Water pressure woes make daily life difficult for Garden Oaks neighborhood

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Chances are you can take a shower in the morning without giving it a second thought. But residents in Villas of Garden Oaks say water pressure in their neighborhood is so bad that taking a shower isn't easy.

Even with the water turned on full blast, Sherri Loftus' rain shower head is just a drizzle. The pressure coming from the sinks is not much better.

"You can only do one thing at a time, either wash dishes, shower, or do your clothes, and this is the good time of day. In the morning you can't do either of those," said Loftus.

"So you are saying that right there is good water pressure?" we asked her.

"Yeah, that's the best it gets," said Loftus.

"The best it's been over the last three months?" we asked.

"Oh yeah, for sure, that's it," said Loftus.

"And that's full blast?"

"Right," said Loftus.

And Loftus is not alone.

Dozens of home owners in the Villas at Garden Oaks are seeing the same thing, little to no water pressure.

"We're brushing our teeth and we are like trying to get water on the tooth brush," said Rachel Dean.

Dean says the pressure is so low getting the shampoo out her hair can be a challenge.

"My fiance takes a showers for work every morning and every morning he is like, 'Oh my gosh,' to the point that it's making it hard to function," said Dean.

The homes have been here for several years, but residents say the water woes started just three months ago, after the city of Houston did work just outside the community.

Residents say they have reported the problem to 311 but the water pressure problems persist.

"In fact we felt like we we had to bring attention to the whole situation," said Loftus.

Here's what the city of Houston has to say about the problem: "The Public Works & Engineering Department is performing repairs to a portion of an 84-inch water line which supplies water to the Garden Oaks area. Water service is currently maintained through redundant lines. In response to customer concerns, we made additional adjustments today in an effort to raise water pressure in the area. The repairs to the 84-inch water line are expected to be completed by the end of this month and it will be returned to service at that time. In the interim, the Department will continue to monitor water pressure levels in the area and respond to service requests logged through the 311 system."