Cause Of Sun Bowl Restroom Problems Still Unknown
EL PASO, TX – Officials at the University of Texas at El Paso and the El Paso Water Utilities District have not been able to pinpoint the cause of the problem that led to overflowing toilets and the loss of water services at the Sun Bowl during Saturday night’s home opener.
“It was out of our control,” said UTEP Assistant Sports Director Brian Wickstrom Monday when questioned as to who was responsible for the problems that led to the closure of the restrooms during the game. Wickstrom blamed low water pressure throughout the entire university campus as the cause of restrooms overflowing.
As of Wednesday, the low water pressure problem at the Sun Bowl has not been fixed. UTEP officials tell ABC-7 an inspection of the restroom facilities at the stadium has only led to more confusion.
Some sinks work perfectly fine and have good water pressure while only droplets of water come out of others, officials say. Some toilets at the facility flush perfectly while otherstend tooverflow immediately.
John Balliew, the Water System Manager for EPWU, said the problem has nothing to do with the water district. “I think its clearly a stadium issue because you have one bathroom and you have one toilet that hashigh pressure and one toilet with low pressure,” he said, “it’s not something coming from us.”
UTEP Officials tell ABC-7 they have never had a problem with the restrooms in the past and theymade a full inspectionprior to the season opener.
According to Greg McNicol,from the UTEP Facility Services Department, the head count at Saturday night’s game was not excessive to the point that it affected the system at the Sun Bowl. “It’s always worked well in the past and the load, if you will, the head countwas not excessive, by any means, to the crowds we’ve seen in the Sun Bowl before,” he said.
Despite his assertion, McNicol did not point the finger at anyone and stated his only intention is to have the facilities ready for the next game on September 22.
