The City of Dallas has finally begun repairs on a large underground pipe that has leaked millions of gallons of purified water into the Great Trinity Forest, creating a swamp and disrupting the area’s ecosystem.
Alexander Neal, a Texas Rivers Protection Association board member, posted a video of himself on July 31 kayaking in the swamp created by the broken water pipe. He described the area as “Dallas’ blue hole.”
@lustytexan Massive water main break within the City of Dallas. Perhaps tens of millions of gallons of drinking water discharging daily for the past five years into the Great Trinity Forest. No fix from the city. Continuous discharge at thousands of gallons per minute is flooding hundreds of acres of bottomland hardwood floodplain forest lessening our city’s ability to withstand floods, costing ratepayers, and killing thousands of trees within a vital urban forest. #dallastx #dallas #txwater #txdrought #trinityriver #whiterockcreek #greattrinityforest #dallastexas #txflood #cityofdallas #southdallas #urbanforestry #infrastructure #watersupply #waterleak
Neal said the area is between 30 and 40 feet across and measures 20 to 30 feet deep.
“What if I told you that all the water in this swamp was coming from a broken water main leaking treated drinking water from the City of Dallas, and it was flooding hundreds of acres of our floodplain in the Great Trinity Forest?” said Neal in the video.
“I’m estimating that there are tens of millions of gallons of our treated drinking water coming out of a broken pipe in the forest. This has been going on at least for five years,” Neal said.
Neal claimed that the City of Dallas has, in fact, been aware of the leak for many years and accused the City of wasting water.
It appears now Dallas has decided to address the issue with the 30-inch pipe, which City spokeswoman Catherine Cuellar told D Magazine “is integral to the overall water distribution system for the City.”
Dallas Water Utilities began repairs on the broken pipe this week, according to Fox 4 KDFW. Utility workers reportedly spent months finding the exact location of the leak and then closing off the affected section of the pipeline to maintain pressure for water utility customers.
The City claims it is unaware of when the leak began but said that 12,000 gallons of water per day had leaked from this broken pipe since at least October of last year, amounting to about 3.6 million gallons.
That is enough water to fill more than five Olympic-sized swimming pools. Dallas Water Utility consumers collectively use about 380 million gallons on a typical day.
If Neal’s assertion that the leak has been ongoing for at least five years is correct, the amount of water lost to the swamp could be more than 20 million gallons.
“Us, the ratepayers are paying for this,” Neal remarked.
Ben Sandifer, a naturalist and frequent visitor to the Great Trinity Forest, claims the City has been aware of the leak for several years.
“For many years, I have been calling and writing to the City of Dallas about the water main break in this location via 311 phone calls, written complaints, and in-person discussion with City staff,” Sandifer told D Magazine. “The City of Dallas has known about it for many years and done little to fix the issue.”
Neal said the water leak has killed multiple trees and water-logged a large section of the forest. The City reportedly plans to begin de-chlorinating the water that has collected to minimize harm to the nearby wildlife, but Neal suggested it may be too late.
“When I was there, I saw zero fish in the water around the leak,” said Neal, according to Fox 4. “There were no animals that typically prey on fish around there, like different water birds, beavers, otters.”
Sandifer contended that if the City knowingly wasted water for years — as he and Neal believe it did — this would directly violate its Comprehensive Environmental and Climate Action Plan (CECAP).
“Core portions of the city of Dallas’ CECAP were not followed,” Sandifer told D Magazine. “While City Hall touted and patted themselves on the back for water conservation efforts this huge water main break roared 24 hours a day for many years.”
Dallas officials had previously advised residents to conserve water due to record temperatures in June, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Repairs to the pipe are expected to continue for the next several weeks.
The Dallas Express reached out to the Texas Rivers Protection Association and to Dallas Water Utilities regarding the massive leak but did not receive a response.
