SAWS still looking for original cause of Quintana Road collapse

Officials unsure what caused leak of 8' sewer pipe that undermined road

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio Water System officials are still investigating why sewage was able to leak out of an 8-foot-wide sewer transmission line and cause the deadly road collapse at Quintana Road on Dec. 4.

Officials with the utility company briefed members of the City Council’s Transportation, Technology and Utilities Committee Wednesday morning. Chief Operating Officer Steve Clouse said the hole appeared where a section of recently installed pipe met with ‘60s-era pipe that was due to be replaced.

"In other words, it was some new infrastructure tied to some older infrastructure” Clouse said. "That's what we have to study is what started this whole process."

Clouse said the pipe that has been removed from the hole looked OK, and the sewer water must have been coming out of the seam, gradually collapsing the line and expanding the hole.
"I think something within the pipeline that started the cascading series of events that led to the collapse of the road,” Clouse said.

The water undermined the road, causing a large portion of asphalt to fall in on a rainy Sunday night. Clouse believes the collapse happened quickly.

Two cars drove into the hole. One of the drivers escaped with the help of a good Samaritan. The other, off-duty BCSO deputy Dora Linda Nishihara, was not as fortunate. Her body was recovered from the hole the next day.

The flow has been rerouted, but that doesn’t mean the trouble has stopped. SAWS Vice-President and General Counsel Nancy Belinsky said the utility has been talking with attorneys representing Nishihara and another injured person.

"I would urge patience and respect for the process that we will be going through that will, in my mind, certainly entail legal action,” Belinsky said.

The hole opened up in committee member Councilman Rey Saldana’s district. The District 4 councilman said someone is at fault and believes they will know who it is soon. He also believes the public will get honest answers about how anything similar will be prevented.

"It may not have been present in the briefing today, but I am confident in saying that the community soon will have the reassurance that this won't happen again,” Saldana said.

In the meantime, cleanup continues as crews haul debris out of the pipe. Clouse estimated the hole will be fixed and paved over by the first week of February.

Clouse also said SAWS has inspected almost all 5,500 miles of its system in recent years and determined what needs to be replaced. Following the collapse, he said, the utility company was double-checking problem pipes around the city to see if it needed to adjust the replacement schedule.


About the Author:

Garrett Brnger is a reporter with KSAT 12.