Dallas begins repairs on water pipe that's been leaking millions of gallons
DALLAS - Nearly four million gallons of water meant for Dallas Water Utilities customers for drinking, bathing, and cooking ended up wasted, essentially becoming a swamp. The city said it is due to a leak that had been ongoing since at least October.
The leak is in a 30-inch underground pipeline near the Bonton neighborhood. It's in a wetlands area behind the Rochester Levee off the CF Hawn Freeway toward Pleasant Grove.
A viral video shared on social media by Alexander Neal brought the issue to the public's attention.
Neal claims it has flooded a section of Dallas' Great Trinity Forest, killed numerous trees, and created a water hole that's 30 to 40 feet across and 20 feet deep in some areas.
"For the last several years, I had been aware that there was something suspicious going back around there concerning possibly a leak or some strange phenomenon with water," he said. "I went out there for the first time on Sunday and I saw it with my own eyes. My jaw dropped when I saw that."
Neal works in the water resources industry, but his exploration of this issue is a hobby.
The city estimates about 12,000 gallons of water leaked per day (about half of an average swimming pool), totaling up to 3.6 million gallons since October 2022.
Dallas Water Utilities doesn't know the exact date that the leak began, meaning the actual total is probably much higher.
The city said it took several months to pinpoint the leak and isolate the location due to the complexity of the system.
While searching, utility workers closed off the affected section of the pipeline and opened a much smaller bypass line to maintain the pressure. They took steps to continue providing customers with drinking water.
Work to repair the line is only beginning this week and will last several weeks.
The city said workers have also begun a de-chlorination process on the water that has leaked to minimize its impact on area wildlife.
But Neal believes a significant amount of damage has already been done.
"The damage that has been done over there is the water logging of probably dozens, maybe hundreds of acres of Dallas' Great Trinity Forest," he said. "When I was there, I saw zero fish in the water around the leak. There were no animals that typically prey on fish around there like different water birds, beavers, otters."
Featured
North Texas water suppliers battling to meet demand during triple-digit heat
Summers like this one remind us just how precious water is. But providers in North Texas are battling not just high heat but a lot of people moving here.
Summers like this one also remind us just how precious water is. Providers in North Texas are battling not just high heat but a growing population.
"Of our drinking water. Us, the ratepayers are paying for this," Neal said.
It’s unclear if the city would be speaking about this publicly had it not been for Neal’s viral video.
It declined FOX 4's request for an on-camera interview and failed to answer several questions including how much taxpayer money could have been wasted.