WACO, TX — On Thursday, a Waco neighborhood was almost back to normal following a water main break that shut down a road and caused some residents to have low water pressure.
The leak in the 3000 block of Sanger Avenue has been fixed, but street repairs are still underway.
Carter Falco who is visiting his family in Waco said Tuesday morning he saw the water main break first hand.
"I was driving down the street and there was a little leak on the road. And the little road turned into a geyser," Falco said. "I looked at my rear view mirror and it looked like a full waterworks show going on."
Waco Water Utility Services spokesman Jonathan Echols said crews were able to find and isolate the line in 100 minutes.
"It's hard to say exactly, the age of the line has a lot to do with it but it was failure of the line, the material failed," Echols said.
In addition, Echols said the city has seen its fair share of main breaks over the past three years.
"We definitely have some older aged infrastructure in Waco, which is not different than other cities across the United States," Echols said.
The city is investing $300 million over the span of 10 years to upgrade the water system, which includes replacing older pipes like the one that failed on Tuesday.
"It perfectly illustrates the reason to do things like the Capital Improvement Program. It illustrates the importance of it," Echols said.
Falco is also in favor of the preventive work.
"They should definitely take steps to fix things like that," Falco said.
Every year since 2015, the city has repaired more than 400 leaks, which include water main breaks.
In 2018, the number of leaks spiked to 551.
