Water troubles rippled into El Paso's downtown detention facility on Tuesday after a nearby City of El Paso water main broke, according to the county sheriff's office. Crews fixed the main itself, but the jail kept seeing low water pressure while maintenance teams worked to steady the system. In the meantime, portable restrooms were rolled in for staff, and pallets of bottled water were supplied to inmates.
As reported by KFOX14/CBS4, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office said the disruption started Tuesday and that the facility is still "dealing with a pressure regulator issue" even though the broken main has been repaired. The office pushed back on social-media posts claiming inmates had no access to restrooms, calling those claims "inaccurate" and saying "inmates have continued to use the restroom," with staff bringing in water to flush toilets when needed.
Strained Pipes And Recent Outages
The trouble at the lockup comes as El Paso continues to grapple with aging and stressed water infrastructure. El Paso Water reported a major main break on Jan. 11 that drained about 15 reservoirs and affected roughly 38,000 customer connections. That incident triggered boil-water notices and a large-scale bottled-water distribution effort across the city.
What Officials Say Is Being Done
County officials say maintenance crews are working to bring pressure back to normal levels and that the sheriff's office is coordinating with partner agencies to line up extra resources. According to the sheriff's statement, portable restrooms were brought in for employees, and El Paso Water delivered pallets of bottled water for inmates while technicians worked through the pressure regulator problem.
"The safety and well‑being of those in our custody and our staff remain our top priority," the sheriff's office said, adding that it appreciates help from partner agencies as repairs continue, per KFOX14/CBS4. The outlet also reported it has reached out to El Paso Water for additional details.
