ARLINGTON, Texas — As Arlington residents and businesses tried to keep their water pipes from freezing by letting faucets drip, it placed an unusual demand on the water supply.
"Most people following advice allowing faucets to run and that was a huge demand,” said Craig Cummings, director of Water Quality.
On top of the high demand, Arlington's water director said pipes in homes, large businesses and some city water lines burst, creating an even bigger problem.
“What we ran into today was either one large water break which we are still looking for or multiple medium breaks we've been responding to over 100 calls for service today,” said Cummings.
That caused water pressure to drop in homes and some people lost water pressure altogether.
Mollie Carnahan lives in Arlington and owns a business.
"I really don't know how to feel about this right now. Feels like survival mode,” said Carnahan.
She is now in the same boat as her elderly mom, who hasn't had water at her home in Joshua since Monday.
“This water thing well, we'll have to do what we have to do. We are lucky we have some water and I will just have to start boiling,” said Carnahan.
Arlington is asking residents out of an abundance of caution to boil their water because the water pressure is so low.
“Things could leak into the pipes and make people sick. We have no indication of that just a precaution to boil,” said Cummings.
And there is a huge concern when pipes start to thaw that more homes and business will flood. There are reports of schools also flooding in Arlington, so they fear the problem will only get worse.