Water main break leaves residents with no water for days

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- They can't shower, use the restroom, and even making a cup of coffee is an ordeal.

Residents on one Houston street say that's what they've been dealing with since last week thanks to a water main break, and they feel like they're getting the runaround.

"You can't take a bath, you can't do nothing," said Regina Mitchell who lives on Prudence Street on the city's south side.

Mitchell is on her way to a cousin's house to shower. The reason? A broken water line that created a pool 3 feet deep in front of Jethro Caldwell's front yard and reduced water pressure to a trickle.

"They are doing repiping here and it looks like they might have cracked a pipe down there," said Caldwell.

The new leak started Friday, so residents on Prudence Street called 3-1-1.

"I done called downtown, I got about 5 or 6 confirmation numbers," said Ezekiel Moore.

Ezekiel is the president of the neighborhood association. Moore says when he called 3-1-1 he was told contractors laying new pipes were to blame and were responsible for fixing the leak. That was three days ago.

"I'm going downtown tomorrow, I have an appointment with City Council at 1 o'clock so I am going to speak part of my mind because it's not fair. We got senior citizens here and we don't have water for people go to the restroom or drinking water or nothing, and it's not right," said Moore.

When we called the city, we were told Public Works would look into the issue.

Residents say the problem is more than one broken water line.

Leroy Garrett says the work done months ago left a leak at his meter box. It remains flooded to this day.

"Nobody's been here, nobody's been here. People up and down the street have been complaining," said Garrett.

After we called, work started on the leak. Residents hope this time water stays in the pipe.