The City of Galveston reported that the frozen pipes caused major leaks in many of the residents pipes which led to low water pressure.
"We’ve received over 5,000 calls for broken water lines," said City Marshal Michael Gray.
The freeze is impacting neighborhoods all over Galveston.
Stage 4 of the Drought Contingency Plan restricts residents and businesses from all non-essential water use.
Repairs and shut offs on the customers side of the meter are typically the customer’s responsibility, however, due to the nature of the event and the limited availability of plumbers locally, City crews are working diligently to assist citizens across the Island with simply turning water service to their home off.
Things You Can Be Fined for During Stage 4 of the Drought Contingency Plan Irrigation of landscaped areas can only be done on Mondays and Thursdays for customers on the East side of them City (east of 103rd Street), and Wednesdays and Saturdays for water customers on the West side of the City (west of 103rd Street).
Further, such vehicle washing using potable water at commercial car washes and commercial service stations shall occur only between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. and between 6:00 p.m. and 10 p.m.
The following uses of potable water are considered non-essential in Stage 2 and are prohibited unless services are being provided by a third party for profit company: 1. wash down of any sidewalks, walkways, driveway, parking lot, tennis courts, or other hard surfaced areas; 2. use of water to wash down buildings or structures for purposes other than immediate fire protection; 3. use of water for dust control, except as permitted by the Director of Municipal Utilities All restaurants are prohibited from serving water to patrons except on patron request.
City crews will assist homeowners with turning the water to their home off, however, repairs and turning the water back on will need to be made by a licensed plumber.
This type of team of effort is what we need to help us identify the issues that are causing our water losses.” Residents help by reporting the leaks online at http://www.galvestontx.gov/freeze, emailingcustomerservice@galvestontx.gov, or by calling 409-797-3550.