Data shows that despite recent improvements, water leaks remain among the City of Houston’s top 311 complaints last year

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Data shows that water leaks are the number one reason people call 311 in the city of Houston.

Clariece Barefield said she and her neighbors on Beldart Street in southeast Houston had been calling the city for about a month asking to fix a water leak.

“My neighbor there called 311 and reported it. I called 311. Her daughter came over the next weekend and called and said she was calling Channel 13,” she explained.

This weekend, Barefield said Houston Public Works responded and fixed the leak. A spokesman confirmed that one of the department’s trucks got stuck in a hole they dug in the process.

Neighbors told ABC13 they feel the situation sheds light on the broader ongoing problem with leaks in the city.

Data shows that despite recent improvements, water leaks remained among the top 311 complaints in the city last year.

In 2023, 32 billion gallons of water were lost to leaks, enough to supply the entire city of Fort Worth.

In September of this year, the public works department told ABC13 that about 20% of the city’s aging water pipes needed to be replaced. By September they had replaced about 6% of that.

It is an estimated multi-billion dollar project. A spokesman said the costs should not be passed on to customers. The cost of this leak on Beldart Street is also unlikely to be high since it was a public street and not private property.

For more updates on this story, follow Shannon Ryan on Facebook. X and Instagram.