U.S. News & World Report published an Associate Press article over the weekend on a developing sink hold in Carlsbad, New Mexico that has parents of school bus riders anxious.
But the local school system said it began meeting with emergency personnel before the school year about the I&W Brine Well, which was closed last week because the ground area had grown too unstable. Experts said the ground could collapse in three years. A road used by about half of the Carlsbad Municipal Schools buses runs right through the area.
But the district’s director of operations, Don Owens, is quoted as saying the school system has met with fire department, EMS and other experts and the situation is under control. “Our take is to listen to the experts,” he added.
Eddy County Emergency Services and other agencies have a plan in place to alert traffic hours before the collapse. Manager Jennifer Armendariz admitted that it is nearly impossible to predict the exact time of collapse, but she assured that the school district will be the first to be warned.
