September 27, 2007--Farmers wait for water (Cortez Journal)
Nearly 5,000 acres of farmland near Pleasant View are still without irrigation and farmers can't be sure when it will return. The water stopped flowing at 4:06 p.m. Sept. 11, said Bruce Harrison, Dolores Water Conservancy District interim manager. The power was out at two pump houses, Harrison said. Power authorities were quickly notified. Officials with Western Area Power Administration, which delivers power to the area and is one of four power marketing administrations within the U.S. Department of Energy, said they are doing everything they can to get the power back on, but finding the problem turns out to be trickier than first thought. "Our crew is having trouble locating the fault because we don't have extensive experience with underground cables," said Tiffani Chopko, public affairs specialist with WAPA. "Most of our knowledge is in high voltage transmission lines."
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