Via Jay Baker
Post below was sent in from a reader:
So my neighbor who worked about 35 years at Sangre de Cristo water company said the initial water system was laid out with east to west “spines” running out from the Reservoirs and later the canyon water treatment plant and storage tank.
The spines operate at 200 PSI (about the rating of a 12 inch PVC line) and because they run downhill they can increase pressure as they go. Therefore, there is a series of pressure regulating stations (and shut off values) taking the water line down to 120 to 180 PSI or whatever the engineer determines will work until the next pressure regulating station. The spines are (named from north to south) Alameda, Agua Fria, Rufina, Cerrillos, Siringo, Rodeo Road. As development increased the spines increased.
Plus a series of Wells (Torreon, Agua Fria, San Mateo, Osage, plus two more) were plugged into the system and additional water tanks like Tano Road on US 285 and Rancho Viejo on Richards. A series of north-south water lines were plugged into the system that help to offset the pressure and then deliver to the neighborhoods: Galisteo, St. Francis, Baca, Osage, Siler, Henry Lynch, and Jemez Road. So more of a spiderweb system.
Then all of a sudden the Buckman Direct Diversion project came on line, along NM 599 and down St. James Place. This brought a whole new source of pressure into the system.
For instance, near our family land just east of Atocha Mobile Home Park, a break occurred on Rufina Street and dug a hole 40 feet long and 20 feet deep and 12 feet wide in 12 hours. There wasn’t an immediate way to shut it off. So when it was all over a pressure regulating station and shut off where put in at the break. Strangely enough, we discovered that the water line is about 10 feet into our property without an easement (just missing the 99 foot Rufina Street Easement).