The San Antonio Water System is warning residents to prepare for damaged and leaking pipes as daytime temperatures rise following several days of freezing temperatures.
Hundreds of SAWS customers called throughout Tuesday to tell the utility their water faucets were not working, said SAWS Communications Director Anne Hayden. However, the water utility was experiencing only three water service outages across its system.
“What happens in weather like this is people’s pipes freeze and they call in to report it as no service,” Hayden said. “We have them check the outage map and check with their neighbors since it’s usually actually their own pipes on their property.”
Meanwhile, as temperatures rose slightly back above freezing Tuesday afternoon, the number of reported leaks across San Antonio rose significantly. SAISD noted in a letter sent out to parents Tuesday some of their campuses experienced leaks due to burst pipes. Hayden said many residents also called SAWS to ask the utility to cut their water service as they began experiencing leaks.
“We want folks to know they have the tools [to turn off their own water],” Hayden said. Hayden added that residents experiencing leaks on their property should locate their water shutoff valve and shut off their water, then consider calling a plumber to fix the leak.
While SAWS inspects, cleans and maintains 13,000 miles of water and sewer mains in the San Antonio region, pipes beyond SAWS water meters going into residents’ homes and businesses are the responsibility of the home or property owner.
With temperatures expected to freeze and unfreeze again Tuesday night heading into Wednesday morning, SAWS staff urged residents to stay alert for the possibility of more leaks to come.
Staffers at several local plumbing companies confirmed they have noticed an uptick in freeze-related calls over the past two days, although the number of calls are not comparable to what happened after Winter Storm Uri in February 2021, several of them said.
“We took in over 500 calls just in a couple of days during ‘Snowmageddon,'” said Tyler Fielder, the service manager for George Plumbing Co. Inc. “Even now we are still having calls come in regarding the freeze, but it’s not as intense since a lot of people got shell-shocked from [Uri] and invested in winter-proofing their pipes.”
Fielder estimated George Plumbing had probably gotten 20 to 30 calls since Monday related to leaks caused by the arctic blast.
“This sort of thing happens every time it freezes,” Fielder said.
