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Water outages, low pressure still plague parts of San Antonio - San Antonio Express-News

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While power has been restored to most of San Antonio after a severe storm disrupted services citywide, many residents remained without a reliable source of water Thursday as homeowners and businesses scrambled to fix broken pipes and the San Antonio Water System tried to get water pumping at normal levels.

About 20 percent of customers throughout Bexar County remained without water service Thursday evening, most of them outside Loop 1604, SAWS said. An additional 20 percent were having problems with low water pressure. The utility had to alert all customers to boil water used for drinking and some other purposes.

SAWS, in coordination with the city, is opening seven water distribution sites at noon Friday. Residents affected by water service outages and leaks in pipes on private properties can bring their own containers and get bulk water.

Citing “unimaginable hardships,” the utility also announced that it would not charge customers more than what was on last month’s bill. Instead, customers will owe either the total charges for the current month, or last month’s charges — whichever is less.

“I really want to let the community know that I understand what you’re going through,” SAWS President and CEO Robert Puente said. “I feel what you’re going through.”

Open noon to 6 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day until water service is back to normal

13655 O'Connor Road

254 Seale Road

615 E Theo Ave.

8910 Jones Maltsberger

7172 Hausman Road

10349 Military Drive W.

1208 S. Loop 1604 W.

The announcements Thursday came four days after intense cold and snow knocked out power to much of San Antonio, also disrupting water service citywide.

At one point, several pump stations throughout San Antonio were turned off to reduce electrical use as CPS Energy dealt with power shortages and system problems.

Officials said the situation worsened Wednesday as pipes on private property began to thaw, crack and spring leaks after days of below-freezing temperatures.

That prompted SAWS to issue the boil-water notice to all customers Wednesday when pressure dropped to potentially hazardous levels.

Puente said SAWS issued the notice for the whole region, even though it wasn’t required by state standards, “out of an abundance of caution.”

In the official notice, the water utility acknowledged that it was required to notify certain customers to boil their water as water pressure in some areas had fallen below minimum standards set by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

On Thursday evening, Puente said the situation was improving, but he cautioned that some residents might not have water until Sunday or Monday.

Puente said there were about 80 pump stations operating throughout the San Antonio region. None were offline Thursday evening, he said.

One area particularly hard hit by water outages was Fair Oaks Ranch, in far North Bexar County along Interstate 10, which as of Thursday evening hadn’t had water service for several days. SAWS said getting water restored to Fair Oaks was difficult because the area is at a high elevation relative to the rest of its system.

“With widespread water outages and rolling blackouts across the city, lower elevations will need to have pressure before higher elevations can be restored,” SAWS officials wrote in a news release.

They said it wasn’t clear when service would be restored there.

Another area affected was near Loop 410 and Northwest Military Highway, where customers also have been without water for several days.

District 8 Councilman Manny Peláez, who represents a portion of the area, questioned during an emergency City Council meeting Wednesday when water would be restored there.

“I’ve got lots of poor people, elderly folks, students and thousands upon thousands of apartment dwellers without water because there’s no electricity for pump stations,” Peláez said.

On Thursday, SAWS officials said the utility should be able to restore service to that area by Sunday or Monday.

Areas south of Knights Cross in Stone Oak were expected to have water service by late Thursday, officials said.

Areas north of Knights Cross from Canyon Springs into Timberwood Park are projected to have water by mid-Friday.

Outages lead to frustration

Francine Romero and her husband, David, are down to their last gallon of water.

The couple, who live in Crownridge, a subdivision off Interstate 10 and Camp Bullis, north of Loop 1604, have been without water for nearly three days.

And it’s not just them — the entire neighborhood is running dry.

“I talked to all the neighbors, and no one seems to have it,” said Francine Romero, a professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and a member of the city’s zoning commission, for District 8. “It’s just a nightmare.”

Since Tuesday, Romero and her husband have been gathering snow to use to flush toilets and wash dishes.

Without enough drinking water, she and her husband used their gas range to heat bottled tea to drink. As far as food, she has been able to cook what they had in their freezer that hadn’t spoiled.

“My husband has been eating all the meat,” Romero said.

She, however, does not eat meat, so cooking pasta dishes that require a fair amount of water is difficult, especially when they are down to their last gallon.

She is at her wits’ end to find out why she does not have water.

“We desperately would like information from the city,” she said. “They are starting to get information out now from CPS after the fact.”

Romero said she and her husband even thought of leaving their home. She wonders why SAWS can’t call or text residents, like CPS Energy has done.

“To just not be communicating with us is the worst possible thing they can do,” she said. “We don’t want to punish them, just tell us the farthest window, whatever it might be, when we get it back — a day or a week.”

Broken pipes another issue

Throughout San Antonio, thousands of residents faced other water problems as pipes on private properties continued to crack and spring leaks, in some cases forcing owners to turn off water service for the whole property.

A pipe inside the Northwest Side apartment that Brandy Robinson lives in sprung a leak Monday, just hours after snow, sleet and rain pummeled the region.

Soon, the water inside Robinson’s apartment was over 2 inches deep, soaking almost all her furniture, clothing and belongings. The water sloshed as she walked through it.

Robinson spent nearly 48 hours trying to reach a maintenance crew at Seven Oaks Apartment Homes, but the number rang and rang and rang, until eventually connecting to voicemail.

She also sent four emails. She said no one has responded to them.

Robinson, who recently moved to San Antonio from Galveston, said she didn’t have anywhere else to go. She also couldn’t afford a hotel, as she lives off Social Security and food stamps.

But after the situation continued to worsen — at one point, her 1-month-old grandson began wheezing — she decided to pack up the few belongings she could salvage and try to find a hotel for her family.

“I said, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’” Robinson said. “I can’t leave my family in this situation any longer.”

Desperate, Robinson went to Facebook to ask her friends and family if they could help her pay for a room at a nearby Best Western for $75 a night.

So far, she has been able to muster enough money to pay for three nights at the hotel, but she’s unsure when that money will run out and what she will do at that point.

She also doesn’t know how she’ll replace all the food, clothing and furniture that was ruined by the leak.

Among the damage: diapers for her grandson.

“I just want this nightmare to be over,” Robinson said. “We were so happy to see the snow. Now, I never want to see the snow again. It’s ruined my whole life.”

Staff writer Brian Chasnoff contributed to this report.

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