Long-standing plumbing problems at the Bi-State Justice Building have worsened enough that an emergency overhaul is under way, causing headaches for law enforcement agencies headquartered there.
Decades-old cast-iron pipes between the building's fourth-floor jails and third-floor police department offices have corroded, cracked and failed, and raw sewage has leaked into some work spaces, ruining carpeting, drywall and furniture.
Branson Plumbing Co. of New Boston, Texas, has begun replacing the bad pipes, but the process will take months to complete as employees of both Texarkanas' police departments are displaced from their usual offices.
"It's a nightmare," Building Manager Larry Vaden said.
Age, cleaning chemicals and sabotage by jail inmates, who frequently flush inappropriate materials down the fourth-floor toilets, have caused the iron pipes' breakdown, he said. Leaks have become increasingly frequent over the years, recently becoming a near-constant occurrence.
"It's been an ongoing thing. Finally, we called in some experts, and we've been replacing pipe after pipe after pipe."
Eventually, Branson will replace all of the plumbing between the building's third and fourth floors. Several local plumbing companies turned down the job, hesitant to tackle such an extensive project, Vaden said.
Insurance will cover some costs, but the three governments that administer the Bi-State's operations-Bowie County, Texas, and both cities of Texarkana-must amend their budgets to pay the plumbing expense, about $20,000 a month, Vaden said. None of the three has yet done so.
Working around the repairs has been difficult for the Texarkana, Ark., Police Department, Capt. Glenn Greenwell said.
"We have had to move employees to other offices and the basement. We have tried to limit disruptions, but it has been a challenge."
Vaden agreed that doing the work as law enforcement personnel continue to do their jobs in the building is especially difficult.
"The logistics of moving people around just makes the whole thing harder," he said.
The plumbing crisis comes on the heels of an emergency expenditure to replace two failed air conditioning units in the building. The Texarkana, Ark., Board of Directors approved that measure in June, but the work has not yet been completed, Vaden said.
The Bi-State Justice Building houses municipal and district courts; both Texarkanas' police departments; the Bowie County, Texas, Sheriff's Office; city and county jails; and a number of other Arkansas and Texas law enforcement and judicial agencies. It opened in 1985.