CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — After two days the Corpus Christi administration figured out the low water pressure was not due to a significant pipe burst. Now that it has been solved pressure levels are expected to return to normal by end of day Friday. A statewide call of water distributors helped solve the issue.
"We heard other water utilities were having the same water phenomenon, that we were seeing here," said Peter Zanoni, city manager. "Which is that there appeared to be a large break in the system, in the main, however nobody could find it. We heard Austin say this. We heard Dallas say it. We heard Fort Worth, even Houston."
Looking at their data, Zanoni said they identified two reasons pressure dropped, which subsequently led to a water boil alert. As freezing temperatures rolled in early in the week, people turned their faucets on to drip, to prevent their pipes freezing. That upped the usage of city water. The second factor was those that did have pipes burst at their homes, lost a lot of water.
To help get the levels back to normal, citizens can help. Those that have a leak or busted pipe, you must turn your main water valve off as soon as possible.
"Turn the water off from the outside so that so water is completely shut off in your home," Zanoni said. "And then we have to—you have to get a plumber. Customers must get a plumber. We all do, I had the same thing happen to me. And get a plumber and get those leaks fixed, especially if it’s a gusher.”
Now if you need help turning off the valve outside, we have city crews around the clock to help you do that. And you can call 826-CITY."
As for the boil alert, Zanoni is confident that will end this weekend. He said 800 Texas water districts are under a boil alert and Corpus Christi may be the first one off it.
"Even during these extreme events where we had harsh weather no power, rainy cold days our customers continually had water with the exceptions of a few outages on the island," said Zanoni.
