Summer heat continues to threaten water infrastructure across the city of Dallas. Thousands more pipes may be at risk of rupturing alongside those that already have this summer.
While this week has ushered in more seasonable averages, several more consecutive days of triple-digit temperatures and oppressive heat are expected in September across the North Texas region and the rest of the state.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, Fort Worth has already recorded multiple breaks in its cast-iron pipelines. City workers have been repairing an average of three per day this summer. Most recently, a break occurred on Lancaster Avenue, transforming the downtown area streets into rivers.
Dallas faces this issue within its own infrastructure. For instance, a 12-inch cast-iron pipe broke alongside Interstate 35E last week, according to WFAA. While the exact cause of the pipe bursting is unknown, like the breaks in Fort Worth, officials assume that heat was the cause.
A total of 1,955 of the 5,050 miles of pipes in the city of Dallas are still made of cast iron, according to WFAA.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency released a report in 2002 that discussed the deterioration of buried infrastructure, including cast-iron mains. This paper explained that cast-iron piping began in the United States in the late 1800s and continued up until the late 1960s.
Per the report, the susceptibility of these pipes to a rupture is not necessarily due to age but rather the “cumulative effect of the external forces acting on it,” and thus replacement of such pipes would eventually be necessary.
Lee McFarland, president of Herndon McFarland Plumbing, said that persistent high temperatures combined with soil sensitive to moisture will continue to exacerbate the issue.
“Leaks, separations — the drier the conditions, the more of a problem it’s going to be,” said McFarland, according to WFAA.
McFarland said that the best thing that homeowners can do to protect their own pipes before the onset of cooler weather is to water their foundations.
As previously reported in The Dallas Express, the effects of El Niño could bring Texas some relief with cool and wet weather this fall and winter.