BEAUMONT, Texas — The City of Beaumont is now considering bringing in contractors to help relieve crews working to fix water main breaks around the city.
The high volume of issues the city is experiencing is due to the extreme heat and lack of rain around Southeast Texas.
Director of Water and Sewage Mike Harris says residents can do their part by conserving water, which is now mandatory under the City of Beaumont's Drought Contingency Plan.
Beaumont residents like Shellie Fullen says she appreciates the transparency.
"I appreciate the officials of Beaumont letting us know what's going on. We as citizens need to adhere to that so that we are taking care of everybody," she said.
Taking those precautions makes a difference.
Water Director Mike Harris says he's seen the water usage go down since Monday.
"I will say we have noticed a small drop in the millions of gallons pumped yesterday, so we can see that it is making a difference. We have to go under a amount used for three days before we can move down a level," Harris said.
The intense heat and increased demand for water has caused water line leaks.
On the intersection of Church Street and Highland Avenue, water was seen pouring out of a pipe and onto the open road.
"Our forces are concentrated on these main breaks, because as you can see we are losing thousands of gallons here," Harris said.
It takes multiple crews to assess the problem before the problem can be fixed.
"It's all hands on deck, we have water crews everywhere. We even made water crews from our sewage crews. We are also looking at making an emergency call to contract water crews to our area locally," Harris said.
Right now, city leaders say they are focusing on educating people about the rules of water usage over enforcement.
So far, no citations have been issued. The penalty for breaking the rules is a misdemeanor for each offense and a fine of up to $2,000.