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By DAVE INNES Lincoln County Bureau RUIDOSO — This community has a problem which most other New Mexico communities would love to have: too much water. It started after the disastrous floods hit communities to the south of here. Since then Rui doso has been pounded with a steady downpour of rain. At the ski area north of here, 21 in ches of rain was recorded in six weeks — contrasting with the normal yearly rainfall of 30 in ches. Now about 12 hidden springs have opened up along, ironical ly, Spring Road. One empties into the Ruidoso Municipal Building’s basement and city officials have been forced to install a pump to clear the water. Wednesday morning there was more than six inches in the basement. Several business establish ments along Sudderth Drive reported similar floodings but the most ironical is the Ruidoso water shop equipment building which reported 12 inches of wa ter in the mechanics’ pit. Water from Spring Road runs down a small incline, across Sudderth Drive and finally emp ties into the Rio Ruidoso. Ruidoso Village Manager Jim Hine said the problem is devel oping into a serious one be cause the water is eroding top soil away and uncovering water pipes. “This winter the pipes may freeze up if they are ex posed by much erosion,” he said. Later, when and if the rains subside, Village water depart ment crews will try to cover the pipes with fill dirt. Village water main lines are placed 36 inches below the ground which gives a fairly good indication of the strength of the erosion. The frost line is 30 inches. Old timers say this is the first time the springs have opened up since the 1941 floods. Appropriately, the area in which the springs are located was once called the Ruidoso Springs subdivision. There is even one report of a private well overflowing near the municipal building. ‘We receive about 15 to 20 phone calls each day from resi dents reporting broken water mains which are actually these springs,”’ Hine said. Each morning after a rain the village’s water inspector can be seen in the gray mist searching in a field adjacent to the muni cipal building looking for a pos sible broken water main. The fact that a water main doesn’t run through the field doesn’t de ter him because he is constant ly proving to himself that it isn’t a broken main. “At least this keeps our fire danger extremely low,” Hine concluded. WELL NAMED— Spring Street in Ruidoso is well named. A dozen hidden springs have bubbled over along the thoroughfare following this summer’s heavy rains in the area, filling the street with silt and debris. Soil erosion which may expose some water pipes to winter freezing weather is becoming a problem. (Lincoln County Bureau Photo by Dave Innes).
Newspaper Details
Roswell Daily Record
Roswell, New Mexico, US
Fri, Sep 10, 1965
Page 9
Full Page
Clipped by
Beth V.
USA 14 Aug 2026
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Roswell Daily Record
