SAN ANTONIO – A broken sprinkler system on private property near Interstate 35 and Walzem Road caused a problem for the general public Wednesday morning.
Drivers in the area would have been on thin ice had it not been for a detour.
According to a San Antonio Water System spokeswoman, the water began leaking around 2 a.m. from the sprinkler system at a church in the area.
The water then froze over, turning the access road into a slippery mess.
Hours later, workers with the city of Windcrest could be seen chopping away at the ice with shovels.
They were able to remove the ice and reopen the access road after 9 a.m.
Meanwhile, Javier Betancourt, the owner of Betancourt Plumbing, had shown up with a crew to fix the problem.
“The cold weather and then the ice that has started melting, so, yeah, that’s what it is,” he said. “The pipes burst more and then we have more leaks.”
Betancourt said his phone has been buzzing lately with similar calls, as many as 15 per day from businesses and private homes.
He said, like a lot of plumbers these days, he has been scrambling to keep up with the extra workload.
Right across the highway, another pipe on private property burst, also causing frozen streets. However, that did not affect traffic on the access road.
Betancourt said some simple steps, such as wrapping up any outdoor pipes and letting indoor faucets drip, can prevent these types of problems.
SAWS also created a video, which you can view below, that shows how to shut off water during an emergency such as this.