SAN ANTONIO – Outside Gloria Perez’ home in the Highland Park area is a melting snowman, the leftover snow will likely soon be used to wash dishes or flush her family’s toilet.
Perez said she and her neighbors have been without water since Monday.
“They turn the electricity on. They turn down water. No water. I mean, it’s ridiculous,” Perez said. “I got three grandkids, you know. We got elderly that lived next door to us, an elderly man that lives next door to them.”
Perez said she and her neighbors have resorted to collecting water in kiddie pools, buckets and even melting them in pots to have water for everyday use.
On Monday, Alice Flores made a snowman in her bathtub after she was done hauling it in to get water to flush her toilet and wash her hands. Later, she later drove to a family member’s house to haul water for herself and her neighbors.
“We filled up containers because that’s all we’re using And and we’re using bottled water to brush your teeth, you know, to wash dishes,” Flores said. “And so it’s just really hard and it makes it very difficult.”
The widespread issues have forced grocery stores to limit the number of bottled water packs customers can purchase.
The San Antonio Water System announced on Wednesday that a precautionary boil water advisory is in place due to the low water pressure in the area. Officials say that frozen and broken water pipes are an issue.
SAWS shared a map of the areas where they say they have issues pumping water into communities to provide service. However, Steve Clouse, SAWS Senior vice president and operating officer, says the red impact areas will likely get worse as the pipes begin to thaw and burst.
“It is likely tomorrow we will see a tremendous amount of leaks that we didn’t see today,” Clouse said.
He urges communities to be on the lookout for leaks at their homes and neighbors’ homes.
SAWS said a detailed plan of how they plan to get water will be released Thursday, but they say water tanks will likely not be used, but they could not say when the water will arrive in those communities that have none right now.
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