A recent water main break in the City of Comfort has only added to ongoing issues with water in the area.
A recent water main break in the City of Comfort has only added to ongoing issues with water in the area.
The break, which happened Sunday evening in a newly developed area, led to the city losing about 250,000 gallons of water, according to Keith Marquart with the Kendall County Water Control and Improvement District.
“(It’s) a significant amount … especially in a drought,” Marquart said. “It was a freak thing, I guess. A fitting came apart.”
Marquart said his department found out about the leak after getting phone calls from residents about low water pressure. By the time they located the source of the leak, nearly a day’s worth of water had washed down the drain.
He said repairs were made quickly. Still, a lack of water led to early dismissal Monday morning at Comfort High School.
Meanwhile, down the road at the Executive Inn, owner Rossi Bahkta had a different type of water troubles.
She said rusty water coming from her taps and toilets after the repairs were completed made a mess of her motel’s towels and sheets.
Bahkta showed KSAT 12 News piles of linens that were dingy and stained, even after four washings. She said she had to throw out dozens of other towels that were too far gone.
Terry Petty, the motel’s maintenance supervisor, said the rusty water was due to sediment from the water tanks that washes out whenever there is a water outage.
“It takes forever to get it all out of the pipes,” Petty said. “You’ll have a clean bucket of water and all of a sudden you’ll get popped with a thing of rust that will come through the pipes.”
While he and Bahkta both understand that things can go wrong with the city’s infrastructure, they said they wish they had been informed about the outage.
Marquart said notices were sent out to all residents about conserving water in the hours after the outage.
Conservation was already a priority in Comfort. The city has been under Stage 4 water restrictions since July 2023.
Marquart said under the orders, residents are banned from using sprinklers and decorative fountains, and from filling up their pools.
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