Water main break leads to sinkhole on West Side

It was a messy situation for drivers and residents in West El Paso Thursday morning when a water main break caused a sinkhole at a busy intersection, trapping a car and its driver.

According to El Paso Water Utilities, the water main break happened at about 5:30 a.m., eventually developing into a five to six-feet deep sinkhole.

Texas is among the top states where sinkholes can develop, but EPWU says water main breaks are not as common here as in other places.

“You know I never thought it would happen in El Paso,” said former UTEP football player Alex DiMatteo, who lives right next to the intersection at Shadow Mountain and Thunderbird. “You see all these trucks working. We see this big sinkhole. I mean just water everywhere. I came outside and saw water going all the way down Thunderbird, traffic closed off every direction. Hopefully we’ll be back to normal quickly.”

By late afternoon, EPWU employees were still working on fixing the sinkhole.

“About mid-morning, they were able to restore most of it to normal pressure, but they’re still working on making the repairs right now,” said EPWU Spokesperson Christina Montoya, who indicated a car drove into the sinkhole at one point.

“Fortunately, the car was able to be towed out and the person was not hurt.”

Water main breaks, like one last week in West El Paso, often lead to sinkholes.

“That water that escapes the pipe causes all the dirt and soil above it to be pushed downstream and so that creates a gap between the pipe and the actual pavement itself,” Montoya said.

The utility has been replacing many of its cast iron pipes. Montoya said El Paso is below average when it comes to water main breaks, with only five per 100 miles of pipe per year, compared to 25 per 100 miles nationally.

“EPA just released a report that every two minutes a water main breaks somewhere in the U.S.,” Montoya said. “Just to put it into perspective for you, we do have about 2,000 miles of pipe throughout the city.”

Montoya said EPWU was hoping to have two eastbound lanes on Thunderbird and two southbound lanes on Shadow Mountain back open by Thursday evening. But the other lanes will remain closed until the hole can be repaved, which may take a few days.