Low Water Pressure Blamed For Problems At Sun Bowl’s Restrooms

EL PASO, TX – El Paso Water Utilities officials say low water pressure was responsible for the problems that led to the shutdown of the Sun Bowl’s restrooms during Saturday night’s UTEP Miner football game.

More than 43,000 people showed up to see the Miners’ season-opening win against the New Mexico Lobos. However, the joy and ecstasy of a win to open the season was quickly overshadowed by a stinky situation, some fans said.

According to UTEP officials, there was no running water in the entire stadium beginning in the second quarter. The problem created an inconvenience as their was no water for drinking fountains, bathroom sinks and toilets.

The toilets at the restrooms quickly began to overflow. As a result, water and waste flooded the restroom floors. Sun Bowl officials tell ABC-7 they had no choice but to shut down the restrooms in order to keep them from becoming a health hazard.

Dan Felix, a UTEP Alum who came to El Paso from Dallas with his wife and two daughters to see the game, said the water issues created a huge problem for him. “It wasn’t bad for me, I had to make one trip…but with the ladies, they were making tons a trips and, you know, my smaller children… it was kind of a nightmare,” he said.

Brian Wickstrom, UTEP Assistant Sports Director, tells ABC-7 Water Utilitiescrews immediately responded after getting several calls from Sun Bowl officials. “There was a drop in water pressure in the entire stadium and the first thing we did was go quickly and check all the possibilities that would be related to UTEP’s water system and those all came out clear,” he said.

Wickstrom stated water crews will go back to the Sun Bowl on Tuesday to check up on water pressure levels.

Felix hopes the water department and the university will fix the problem before the next game. “They were terrible…they were all over-flooding, full of toilet paper and waste…it was a pretty bad scene,” he said, in regards to the toilets.