Bayard resident Suzette Marrufo discovered that the tap water in her home was brown and cloudy Wednesday, and not only reached out to Bayard City Hall for help, but also took to Facebook, posting a picture of a cup of brown, cloudy water to warn fellow residents of the issue.“I wanted to notify other residents so that they wouldn’t consume the water and get sick,” she said.Although the city’s maintenance department hustled to diagnose and remedy the problem, Marrufo told the Daily Press that the city failed to communicate with her regarding the cause of the problem or the status of the fix. While her water had cleared by Thursday evening, she said she still had not been told whether the water was safe, or if the issue had been resolved.“Absolutely nothing was told to me about any precautions or anything at all,” she said. “This has happened on more than one occasion, and they’ve never notified us residents. I want to know when things similar to this happen so that I can make sure me and my family are kept safe.”While Bayard Clerk-Treasurer Kristina Ortiz confirmed that the city had not notified residents of the problem, she and Maintenance Superintendent Anthony Aveles both assured the Daily Press that the water had not been contaminated, although a well failure had allowed some “dirt and grit” into the system.“I want to be very clear,” Aveles said Thursday, “it wasn’t a contamination issue. Even though it’s unsettling to look at, it was turbidity. It was sediment that worked its way into the system.”Ortiz agreed.“We found out that one of our wells was kicking dirt into the system,” she said.When Marrufo called City Hall on Wednesday, she was told that the maintenance department had been flushing fire hydrants, and that had likely caused the issue.According to Aveles, another resident contacted the city Tuesday, also complaining of dirty water.“I was thinking maybe it was from flushing the fire hydrants,” Aveles said. “But then another call came in [Wednesday], so I went and checked the groundwater at the well field and located the issue with the well.”Marrufo, who lives near Cobre High School, noted that water had also turned brown and/or cloudy for several of her neighbors.The area affected by the well failure was “on the west side of Bayard, in the Cobre High School area,” Ortiz said.By early afternoon Wednesday, Ortiz said maintenance workers had disconnected the problem well, one of six utilized by the city, and began flushing waterlines to remove the sediment. According to Aveles, lines were flushed throughout the afternoon, and again Thursday morning.“I flushed at eight different points,” he said. “What we were seeing, as of [Thursday] morning around 11:30, was total clarity in the water, and the chlorine residual was great.“[Wednesday] afternoon we were able to grab chlorine residual samples,” Aveles continued. “From that, we had a good indicator that it wasn’t a contamination issue, but turbidity.”In order to ensure the issue doesn’t recur, Ortiz said the problem well will remain inactive until it is repaired. According to Aveles, a technician is scheduled to repair the well in the next two weeks.While Mayor Chon Fierro directed most of the newspaper’s questions to Aveles, he did say that “the groundwater is now in top condition.”Ortiz noted that if residents are still experiencing any brown or cloudy water, they should run every faucet, along with their washing machines, until all run clear. If that does not resolve the issue, she encouraged residents to reach out to City Hall.Grit in waterlines can clog faucet aerator screens, and Ortiz suggested that residents should remove and clean faucet aerators of debris in the case of low pressure issues.Aveles clarified that all protocols were followed in assessing the brown water issue, and also noted that concerned residents can view the city’s monthly water test results at City Hall.“I am a resident of this town as well,” he said. “The last thing I’d want is for anything to go wrong over here.”Hannah Dumas may be reached at [email protected]

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