Friday, February 24, 2023 1:26 AM
Houston, Texas (KTRK) – The Houston Department of Public Works told ABC13 that there were more than 500 active water leaks in the city’s infrastructure as of earlier this week.
Michael Johnson, an assistant manager in the department, acknowledged that this is not a number they want to see, and they strive to get 50 or fewer such leaks on an ideal day.
“It’s a lot,” Johnson said of the current number of leaks. “We are working to reduce that number.”
The city’s soil, recent drought and the Christmas freeze caused the number of leaks to spike, Johnson said, and noted that there were about 1,000 leaks after the freezing temperatures came in at the end of December.
in 2022, Houston Chronicle reported The city lost 20 billion gallons of water due to leaks from January to August of that year. Use Data from the US Geological SurveyThat’s the equivalent of 500 million bathtubs wasted due to leaks.
The Chronicle added that losing that much water over that time period could cost the city $75 million.
The Houston City Council acknowledges the problem, with Mayor Sylvester Turner himself acknowledging that Houston has a lot of leaks, and has approved tens of millions of dollars in recent months to hire outside contractors to help fix the leaks.
Johnson said if you are experiencing a leak to connect 311 A crew will investigate the source of the water. If it was determined to be a city line, they said the average time to fix it now is 10 to 15 days. This is longer than usual due to the huge number of leaks, as well as supply chain issues and staff shortages.
The city, which has 7,000 miles of water infrastructure, said the priority for repairs is the amount of water lost, as well as sensitive areas like the Texas Medical Center.
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