Cielo Vista residents upset over deteriorating appearance of water well site

Some East Side residents tell ABC-7 they are fed up with the deteriorating appearance of a water well maintained by El Paso Water Utilities.

“I would like them to come and take care of their property. We’re expected to take care of our property or we get fined,” said Alice Hanson, who lives right next to the site. “I’d like to see them to be good stewards of the community and take care of business.”

The well-head site is located in the Cielo Vista neighborhood at the corner of Cosmos and Catnip streets near Scottsdale Elementary School.

“You want the neighborhood to be a nice place, especially for the kids,” said Ashley Pedregon, who also lives next to the site. “There is a school down the street and the kids, they notice things like that.” Pedregon said she has lived in the neighborhood seven years and the site has been in bad shape for a long time.

“We’ve been here since 1977, and instead of it getting better, it’s just gotten worse,” said neighborhood resident Richard Apodaca.

Neighbors said they have called the water utility several times with no results. ABC-7 called a phone number posted at the site of the well-head more than a dozen times over the past two weeks. We were unable to reach anyone and were not given the opportunity to leave a message.

The water utility told ABC-7 there are about 150 water well sites across the city, many of which were built more than 50 years ago. While improvements are under consideration, the priority is to keep the wells secure so there is no contamination.

“As neighborhoods continue to develop, we want to keep aesthetics in mind and are considering improvements at these sites on a case-by-case basis,” said Christina Montoya, with EPWU.

The barbed-wire fencing is part of the standards set by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in order to keep the water supply safe and secure.

In the short term, the utility has agreed to clean up the area.