Water line breaks cause two Alamogordo schools to close early

Alamogordo city work crews were busy repairing two separate water main breaks that caused Heights and Yucca elementary schools to close early Wednesday afternoon.

Crews had repairs completed with residents’ water back on by around 4 p.m. Wednesday.

The water outages caused Heights and Yucca elementary schools to release students from class early around 1 p.m. Wednesday but Heights and Yucca students will resume their normal class schedule time today, Nov.15.

Heights has about 305 students while Yucca has about 324 students.

The first water main break happened at Bellamah Drive and Boyce Avenue around 5:30 a.m. then a second water main break happened around 8:30 a.m. at Bellamah Drive and Spruce Avenue.

According to a City of Alamogordo press release, city crews were working as quickly and safely as possible to restore water to the affected areas so normal water usage may return.

According to the release, the City thanked residents for their patience and cooperation while the water is temporarily shut off until repairs are completed.

“Between age, the cold weather, the extensive moisture that we’ve had over the past couple weeks are all a factor in this,” Alamogordo Water Operations Manager Dave Nunnelly said. “It generally happens this time of year.”

Nunnelly said crews had to temporarily shut off the water in the area of the breaks to complete the repairs.

He said the first water main break at Bellamah Drive and Boyce Avenue was repaired by 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Crews started replacing a water main valve at Bellamah Drive and Spruce Avenue around 2 p.m. that was the cause of the second water main break.

Nunnelly said the Bellamah and Spruce break was caused by a water valve body giving way due to the age of it.

He said there really is nothing anyone can do to prevent water line and valve breaks.

“The Earth is continuously moving and as the Earth moves, the ground is shaking which results in water line failures,” Nunnelly said. “The City has been continuously replacing lines around town, trying to stay ahead of this, but it’s just an aging of the structures nationwide.”