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E-EDITION

Water pipeline bursts, creates big fountain

A+water+pipeline+burst+this+afternoon%2C+May+12%2C+between+Liberal+Arts+and+the+Administration+Building.+
Edwin Delgado
A water pipeline burst this afternoon, May 12, between Liberal Arts and the Administration Building.

UPDATE:

According to officials, the domestic waterline that feeds through to the Liberal Arts, Academic Advising, Honors House and Central Energy Plant was punctured by a contractor working on the campus transformation project at approximately 1:50 pm. Water to those buildings will be shutdown until further notice.

Within seconds, a geyser of water reached two stories before taking early spectators by surprise and reaching three stories. For five minutes, water sprayed over the area before UTEP construction workers arrived.

Workers in orange vests redirected students from the passage and prevented them from getting close to the water. The workers, as evidenced in videos on twitter, used a crane to prevent the water from rising further. According to officials, the domestic waterline was shut down and there are no current plans to turn it back on anytime soon.

In a statement, Greg McNicol,  associate vice president for business affairs, said that he and UTEP officials are looking to see which building can stay online. He also explained that they will isolate the damaged section of the pipe to repair.

“When these breaks happen, the first thing we do is get the main line shut down, then we can start assessing everything,” he said.

Update by Aaron Montes @3:45 p.m.

_______________________
Construction crews broke a water pipeline this afternoon around 2 p.m., between the Liberal Arts and Administration buildings. the water flooded Hawthorne Street and the site where crews were attempting to install new pipelines. Students, who normally have to walk around the site to get to the opposite side of campus, were forced to go through the Liberal Arts Building to avoid getting wet.

The incident created a water fountain more than 60-feet tall, the water had to be shut off in order to repair the damage. This isn’t the first time this has happened, on Dec. 17 another pipeline burst between Old Main and the Psychology Building.

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About the Contributors
Edwin Delgado, Sports Editor
Edwin is a senior  multimedia journalism major who came  to The Prospector in May of 2012 as a correspondent. He became the sports editor starting the summer 2012 semester. Edwin is excited for the challenges that lie ahead as the paper transitions into a daily publication. He fell in love with sports at a very young age, especially with soccer, and learned to embrace others as he grew up. The 2013-14 year will be a good opportunity for him to watch the new era of UTEP football and how a solid new basketball class performs first hand. Edwin is trying to get as much as possible from the last stretch of his college life before getting into the real world when he graduates in May of 2014.
Aaron Montes, Staff Photographer
Aaron Montes is a junior multimedia journalism student at the University of Texas at El Paso. He graduated from Burges High School in 2010, where he was the head photographer for three years with his yearbook organization, Hoofbeats, the newspaper, Stampede and a literary magazine, Pegasus. With The Prospector, Aaron has been a photographer, the photo editor and multimedia editor. His major contributions to the publication have come through coverage of the ASARCO and City Hall demolitions and with the bomb threat on campus March 28th. He plans on doing investigative reporting in political and economical issues in El Paso and nationally. He strives to become part of the Associated Press.
Michaela Roman, Editor-in-Chief
Michaela is a Senior Digital Media Production major at The University of Texas at El Paso. As the Editor-in-Chief, and former Photo Editor of The Prospector, she has learned to stay organized, manage a staff of writers and photographers, meet deadlines, cover events and network with others. She also has freelance experience and a personal photography business. Michaela aspires to work as an editor for a large media outlet and one day go to graduate school to teach photojournalism.
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Water pipeline bursts, creates big fountain