Gabriel Lopez saw the frustrating post online. It showed ugly graffiti, and ugly language, scrawled on the rock wall outside the Las Cruces Utilities (LCU) Jornada water tank. But, Lopez knew he could help.
“I realized right away that I had the tools to make the difference,” Lopez said. Born and raised in Las Cruces, Lopez had done tile most of his professional life. Part of the job is cleaning the tile, particularly calcified tiles in drained swimming pools. Two years ago, he invested in a high-pressure cleaner that uses very fine glass and water to remove gunk he encountered at job sites.
“I read that people were just so disappointed in seeing this happened, that they were going to go out of their way not to walk, so they didn’t have to see it, I had to go,” he said.
Instead of a traditional pressure washer that may blast at 2600 pounds per square inch (PSI), his machine’s pressure is only 90 PSI. “The glass is like sand when I’m done; the water just keeps the dust down,” Lopez said. He also explained he liked it because it’s 100 percent green and uses no chemicals.
Cleaning the wall took him 40 minutes at the site, but a bit more prep time at home. Lopez takes the glass for his machine from what South Central Solid Waste Authority’s Recycling Center gives away for free.
“I went right away because I didn’t want them to paint over the beautiful rock wall. Paint is only a band-aid,” he said. Lopez was even faster than the LCU crew, who came out the following day to find it clean, leaving LCU Director Delilah Walsh amazed at the quick results.
“We had seen the post online too and scheduled to get our people out there, but Gabriel was quicker,” Walsh said. “We’re appreciative that he cared enough to make a difference in our city.”
It might not be the last time that Lopez might get called into duty. Walsh requested that Lopez fill out a vendor packet with the City of Las Cruces to contact him again in the future.
LCU Customer Central can be reached at 575-541-2111 from 8 a.m. - 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. LCU provides services to approximately 100,000 Las Cruces residents and businesses.