Bosque Farms well overflows due to software outage

BOSQUE FARMS — Hundreds of thousands of gallons of drinking water ended up on the ground last Friday after a software malfunction at a water storage tank in the village of Bosque Farms.

Shortly after 5 a.m., on Friday, May 16, the village’s water department field supervisor Joseph Sanchez was alerted to an issue at Well 1, just north of the village community center on North Bosque Loop.

“He investigated an issue with the Mission Communications system being unresponsive,” said Clerk/Administrator Michael Limon Tuesday morning. “The system allows operators to control well water height, speed, temperature, among other things. Joseph was advised by Mission that water was near an overflow but couldn’t allow him to make changes due to a nationwide outage of the system.”

An email from Mission Communications sent to the village at 5:05 a.m., Friday, May 16, indicates there was a “system network issue” impacting operators ability to remotely monitor systems or control tank and well operations.

There was an overflow at Well 1, which resulted in an estimated loss of 350,000 gallons of drinking water, Limon said. The water flooded the area to the north of the community center, its parking lot and the area to the west of the center.

“We will report the loss to the office of the state engineer. Mission is back online and our operators have full control again,” he said. “Most of the water had soaked in by 9 a.m. ...”

Remaining water was pumped into a nearby Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District canal, which prompted the district to post a notice on its Facebook page informing the public that the water was potable and wouldn’t affect water deliveries to users.

In the notice, the MRGCD described the overflow as being due to a “national water system hack” that affected the village.

Limon said he isn’t sure why the district used that particular term, but did clarify there was no breach of village systems or data.