Residents in Houston's Pecan Park fed up with water pipe that keeps on breaking: 'It's unacceptable'

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Neighbors living in Houston's Pecan Park said they are tired of dealing with a water pipe that keeps breaking at the same location, claiming that it impacts their water supply every time it happens.

Lee Gonzales said the first time he filed a report with 311 about the leak at the intersection of Kellers and Flowers was June 17. Even though Public Works made repairs fairly quickly, he told ABC13 it caused him to go without water for eight hours.

"When you can't shower or flush the toilet for half a day, it's unacceptable," Gonzales said.

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Lorine Martin, who lives right across the street, said she could hear the moment the water pipe broke the second time on Sept. 8.

"It just sounded like a tire exploding. That's what it sounded like, and the water just came up," Martin said. "I came out here, and there was water just floating all over the place, all the way to the freeway."

The most recent incident happened Monday and was fixed the same day, according to Public Works. Residents said it's not the response rate that's the issue; it's the repeated incidents that are frustrating them.

"What worries me the most is other families who have elderly or disabled people living in the house. I mean, I can survive. But what about them? They can't just go out and buy bottled water. So they're stuck,'" Ernesto Martinez said

READ MORE: Extreme heat causes city to be behind schedule on projects and maintenance, Houston officials say

In a statement to ABC13, the city wrote in part, "We ask the public to call 311 to report water leaks so we can track and make repairs as quickly as possible and to contact 311 again if any person notices that the condition of a reported leak has become worse."

Eyewitness News followed up and asked why this specific intersection keeps experiencing water leaks, but Public Works hasn't answered.

Meanwhile, neighbors worry that this could happen again. Some are understanding, and others are fed up.

"This is just Mother Nature. What can you do? I tell my neighbors, 'Y'all need to calm down a little bit.' We have to have a lot of patience, and you got to understand that these guys are out there in the heat every day," Martin said. "They did a real good job (Monday). I don't have any complaints. Accidents happen."

"It's just poor service by Public Works. This should've been fixed immediately. If they would do the job right the first time. They wouldn't have to come out two more times," Gonzales said. "This is just wasted money."

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