86-year-old northeast Houston woman waits on months-long leak to be repaired: 'I'm just tired now'

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A northeast Houston woman hopes a call to Action 13 will get her months-long water leak issue resolved.

It hasn't rained for days in the 7700 block of Rhobell Street in Houston. However, you wouldn't know it looking at what's running in front of Margaret Jone's street.

"I'm just tired now," Jones said. "At my age, 86 years old. So, I'm calling Channel 13, and that's what I did."

In November, Jones recalled she spotted the leak. An issue that looked a lot different five months ago.

Now, not only has the amount of leaking water grown, it's brought sediment and mold with it.

"Algae in front of my driveway," Jones said. "I'm not happy with that at all. Wait until it gets hot. We're going to have mosquitoes like crazy out here."

311 records show Jones contacted the city about the leak in early December. City records show the leak is still active.

ABC13 contacted public works Tuesday afternoon. A spokesperson told us they're working to get us more information.

A type of issue they're trying to resolve more frequently. Mayor John Whitmire said he appointed a new public works director five months ago to tackle water leaks.

311 data shows how big of a problem leaks are. Over the last 12 months, it was the top 311 service call with more than 35,000 received.

The next highest was missed garbage. Twelve weeks ago, water leak was still the top service call.

However, over the last four weeks, missed garbage has become the top 311 complaint.

Jones hopes her service call turns around soon. After previous attempts with neighborhood issues when unresolved, she's hoping a call to Action 13 will make it different.

"I'll call you back and tell you, 'Jesus, bless you.' I sure will," Jones said. "I'll say a prayer for Channel 13, 'God, take care of Channel 13 and don't ever let them go off the air."

In the past, public works has told ABC13 that it prioritizes water leak repairs based on the size of the issue and what the leak is impacting.

If the leak gets worse, public works said to call 311 again and let them know.

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