Residents of a small community just outside Dallas are pleading for help after decades without safe running water, forcing families to rely on bottled-water donations for drinking, bathing and other basic necessities.
The Dallas Express visited Sand Branch, a small unincorporated Dallas County community, during a Saturday water distribution led by Pastor Frank Alexander of Wayside Baptist Church.
Sand Branch has roughly 150 residents and was founded as a freedmen’s settlement in 1878, according to FOX 4. The community has never had municipal running-water infrastructure. Residents previously relied on wells, but testing later found groundwater unsafe for drinking.
For Alexander, the situation is difficult to comprehend.
“This is the year 2026, and we are still a community living in a primitive state,” Alexander told The Dallas Express.
Alexander said his church has spent approximately four years distributing water to Sand Branch residents from a tent alongside the road.
“Yes, we are in the county. Yes, we are taxpaying citizens, those that are residents here, but we don’t have the amenity of running water, sewer, sidewalks, and things such as,” Alexander said. “This issue has been going on for the last at least 50 years.”
Alexander said residents once relied on wells, but the water was eventually deemed unsafe.
“Now we have had well water, but the well water has been deemed to not be safe or contaminated or not fit to drink,” he said.
Children Living Without Running Water
Alexander said children are among those most affected.
“The wells have become contaminated. They had the water tested, and it stated that the water was not safe and fit to drink,” Alexander said. “So, the children, the children that are here, they cannot brush their teeth. They cannot do a hygiene method for wiping off or taking a bath.”
He pointed to a recently installed community park as an example of the difficulties families face.
“One of the first things that a child wants to do after merry-go-riding, sliding, swinging on the swings, running, and playing is have a drink of water,” Alexander said.
Even returning home to take a shower can be impossible, he added.
“First thing Mama would tell that child after playing outside in the front yard or at the park is go in there and take a bath. Go take your shower. Go in there and clean yourself up before dinner. But that’s impossible here in Sand Branch.”
DX accompanied volunteers as they delivered bottled water to residents.
One Spanish-speaking resident named Fernando told The Dallas Express that he and his family have lived in Sand Branch for six years and that running-water infrastructure has still not reached their home.
“It’s a little bit complicated,” he told DX when asked how the situation has affected his family.
A separate Sand Branch resident told DX that several people in the community without water have become sick and sought hospital treatment: “Yeah, there’s about, there’s about four, three or four people out here ain’t got no water, and they get sick, and then plus they go to the different hospital.”
The Dallas Express also received videos showing residents with visible health complications. DX could not independently determine whether the illnesses or conditions described by residents were caused by the community’s lack of safe running water.
Pastor Pleads For Help
Alexander said residents have spent decades waiting for a permanent solution.
“We don’t know why. We don’t know what the holdup will be. But we’re yet just still praying and believing,” Alexander said.
He described what he said have been devastating consequences for the community.
“Many families have died waiting. Many homes have burned down because there’s no running water, many places have horses that are dying, livestock that are thirsty for water,” Alexander explained.
“We want and need water. Would you please help us?” he added. “I’m Pastor Frank Alexander of the Wayside Baptist Church. Please, if you can, help.”
The community’s lack of water infrastructure became particularly visible following an August 29 fire that burned roughly 10 acres and spread to two structures. Sand Branch does not have fire hydrants, requiring firefighters to bring water into the community. Organizations subsequently provided assistance to Sand Branch, including the Dallas Mavericks, which donated water to residents following the fire.
Candidate Blasts Elected Officials
Jayla Godbolt, a candidate for justice of the peace in Dallas County, joined residents and criticized elected officials over the conditions.
“They are not fighting for y’all, so we need to get some people in that’s not about lining their pockets, that is not for sale, and that cares about each and every resident and citizen,” Godbolt told The Dallas Express.
Godbolt said she had spoken with a resident who decided to homeschool her 12-year-old child because of concerns that the lack of running water could leave the child vulnerable to ridicule over personal hygiene.
“I have one resident that told me that her 12-year-old, she just homeschools her because she doesn’t want her baby to face ridicule of, you know, being either being smelly or people are making fun of her,” Godbolt said.
Godbolt specifically criticized Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, State Rep. Aicha Davis and former U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett over the community’s conditions.
“She had the power in over TX-30 to not only help Sand Branch, but to help a lot of areas that are neglected and went neglected,” Godbolt said of Crockett.
She also criticized Price.
“Same thing with John Wiley Price. He has the power to be over here helping these folks, and he has not,” Godbolt said.
Ajua Mason, interim chair of the Dallas County Republican Party’s Candidate Resource Committee, told DX that she has been visiting Sand Branch for several weeks. The Dallas County GOP currently identifies Mason as the interim chair of the committee.
“It’s just really unbelievable to see that a community that is just miles from downtown Dallas,” Mason told DX, pointing to the lack of running water and sewage infrastructure.
Mason argued that Dallas County officials should bear responsibility for the conditions and specifically criticized Price, who has represented the area for decades.
“When you have your elected officials like John Wiley Price, who has been the county commissioner in this district since the 1980s, that have simply ignored the issue, that is not interested in sending relief to these people,” Mason said.
Mason also criticized Crockett, who previously represented the area in Congress.
“Jasmine Crockett, when she ran for office, she campaigned on the promise of helping the people of Sand Branch,” Mason said. “Well, she got into office, and no Jasmine Crockett.”
Mason described the conditions as a “humanitarian crisis” and pointed specifically to the impact on children.
“When you have kids that can’t even take a bath, they have to wait until they go to school to brush their teeth,” Mason said.
Mason also alleged that residents have suffered infections and other health problems associated with contaminated water.
“People have lesions all over their bodies from infections, from the water, from the parasites in the water,” Mason claimed. “This is absolutely, it’s egregious.”
The Dallas Express has not independently established that the health conditions described by Mason were caused by contaminated water.
Mason argued that the length of the crisis makes government accountability particularly important.
“This is a county issue. This is, and it has been a Dallas County issue for so long, and so change has to come,” Mason explained.
Those criticisms come amid a longer history of attempts to address Sand Branch’s infrastructure problems.
Price has previously said Dallas County offered residents voluntary relocation in 2002 and again in 2016, with roughly 150 residents accepting. He has also cited Sand Branch’s location in a FEMA-designated floodplain and the expense associated with constructing a levee as obstacles to extending permanent infrastructure to the community, according to Fox 4.
The Water for Sand Branch Coalition has worked with government officials and other organizations toward bringing water and sewer infrastructure to residents who remain. Advocates, however, continue to argue that relocation is not an adequate substitute for providing basic infrastructure to the historic community.
For Alexander, the issue ultimately comes down to a basic necessity.
“We want and need water,” he said.
The Dallas Express reached out to Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, State Rep. Aicha Davis and U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey for comment regarding Sand Branch’s lack of running water, previous government efforts to address the issue and whether there is a current plan or timeline to bring permanent water and sewer infrastructure to the community. DX did not receive responses before publication.
