Houston officials blame extreme heat, drought for hundreds of broken water pipes across town
HOUSTON - Officials say unusually hot temperatures and a lack of rainfall is causing old water pipes to crack and break across the Houston area.
According to a spokesperson from Houston Public Works, they’re currently being flooded with calls for broken water pipes.
"[We’re] actively working to address more than 500 calls for new water main breaks each week," said a Public Works spokesperson. "The intense heat and drop in annual rainfall have dried up the soil, causing a shift in water lines. When the pipes shift, the pipe joints can break, causing water leaks. The aging, brittle water lines are also more susceptible to failure."
"We’re just having issues right now," said Alex Hall, a homeowner in Southwest Houston. "It seems like the City of Houston doesn’t have enough plumbers to come out and fix all of these."
Hall and his neighbors along Meadowvale Drive first reported a water leak to Houston Public Works two weeks ago. Since then, they say nothing has been done to fix the problem.
"I do feel like I’m being ignored," said one homeowner.
The residents along Meadowvale say recently they’ve also noticed dramatic increases in their water bills.
"I had a water bill of $89 last month, and now it’s over $500," said Casey Bassett. "We’ve changed nothing about our routine."
"My $802 water bill might say something," said Hall. "I guess we’re going to have a conversation with the water authority a little later about this."
Public Works says they have brought in additional contractors, along with city crews, and have increased their overall capacity to repair leaks by about 20%.
"The demand on the system continues to increase due to customers using more water and increased water leaks," said a Public Works spokesperson. "As part of issuing Stage Two of the Drought Contingency Plan on Sunday, we ask that all Houstonians conserve water to achieve our goal of reducing water usage by 10% by limiting outdoor watering and taking other steps to prevent the loss of water. Please call 311 and report water leaks, so our crews can address them as soon as possible. If a reported leak has worsened, please call 311 again to notify Houston Water that the leak has become more serious."
Many Houston homeowners are anxious and hoping their broken water pipes are fixed soon.
"It’s a little bit frustrating," said Bassett. "We’re under a water advisory. We have to be controlling how much water we’re using. In yet, we’re wasting millions of gallons of water because we don’t have enough people to come fix it."