East Dallas neighbor waits 39 days for Dallas water leak repair – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth

An East Dallas neighbor says a city water line leak has gone unrepaired for more than a month, sending water through his driveway and down the street as Dallas Water Utilities reports increasing water loss from leaks across the city.

The leak, just off Lakeland Drive at the end of San Fernando Way, has left water collecting in the street with algae growth.

“This is a leak that we’ve had from the main water line since July 31,” Andrew Rohe said.

After determining the leak was not coming from his own water line, Rohe said he filed multiple 311 service requests with the city of Dallas.

“They came out later that evening and immediately determined that it was their main that was leaking, and since then, it’s kind of been crickets for us,” Rohe said.

For 39 straight days, Rohe said water has continued to flow through his driveway, down the curb and into a brackish pond at the end of the street.

“It feels like a pretty big waste of water, especially because we’ve been in a considerable, I’d say, drought for the last month and a half or so,” Rohe said.

The problem is not isolated to San Fernando Way. The Park Row neighborhood in South Dallas experienced a similar continuous leak for three months before it was repaired in late August, according to The Dallas Morning News.

Dallas Water Utilities recorded 128 main breaks and 310 neighborhood line leaks in June and July alone.

In a June memo, the city reported more than 10 billion gallons of real water loss last year, about 200 million gallons more than the previous year. Much of that loss came from larger water main breaks, even as Dallas Water Utilities invests in replacing aging pipelines.

Back on San Fernando Way, Rohe said he is hopeful markings on the street mean city crews will soon arrive to locate and repair the leak.

“Not to necessarily say any one specifically is at fault for it,” Rohe said, “Really, I just want them to come fix it.”

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication.