El Paso Water says Cement Lake dam not inspected before purchase
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- An inspection of the dam at Cement Lake was not conducted until after El Paso Water purchased the property from the Texas Department of Transportation, according to El Paso Water President and CEO John Balliew.
Wednesday, Balliew said El Paso Water was aware of rising water levels at Cement Lake before buying the property, but said it was not considered a cause for concern.
He said the only inspections completed before the purchase were environmental inspections.
After El Paso Water acquired the dam, a crew discovered a breach in the structure.
Balliew said there were no indications before the purchase that the dam had structural problems.
“We felt that the rising water level could be managed by increasing the water coming out of the spillway,” Balliew said.
He said El Paso Water conducted what he described as a standard real estate assessment before purchasing the property.
“We refer to it as a phase one and a phase two inspection. It’s an environmental inspection,” Balliew said.
TxDOT said in a statement to ABC-7 that at the time of the sale to El Paso Water, the agency had no knowledge of any potential dam failure.
The agency said it had owned the Cement Lake property since 2014 and “actively monitored the area and pumped water as needed” during that time.
Balliew said El Paso Water did not inspect the dam itself before buying the property.
“We did communicate with the previous owners. At no point in time was there any alarm given, any indication that anything was wrong with the dam. The dam was still perfectly functional,” Balliew said.
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the dam was last inspected in 1996.
“The dam had been there for more than 100 years with several different owners, and those owners did not do any maintenance other than to clear the spillway,” Balliew said.
El Paso Water officials said the utility plans to add a new feature to the spillway in the near future to better control water levels at the dam.
