The Mustang Minute

As many homeowners already know, water bills are generally higher in the summertime. Most homeowners use two to four times as much water during the summer as they do during the rest of the year for various reasons, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, but the majority of usage is usually for irrigation. Even the smallest changes in daily watering habits can add up quickly, but higher water bills are never fun – even when you are expecting them.

It is important to be conscious of our watering habits, so we are not using more water than we need to, but it is also important to make sure we are not using water unintentionally through leaks in our home systems.

We encourage homeowners to check for leaks routinely every Spring to make sure there are no leaks indoors or in their outdoor irrigation system. Pipe breaks are more common during the winter when water freezes and expands inside pipes. That is why this year it is especially important to check your systems due to the unusually hard freeze we experienced in February.

Checking your home systems for leaks is very easy using the following steps:

Step 1: Turn off all running water at your home. This means no running faucets, flushing toilets, watering lawns, or washing clothes or dishes.

Step 2: Find your water meter box outside in your front yard and remove the lid. This is generally a small black box in your yard. Remove the lid and locate the small dial on your meter that looks like a snowflake.

Step 3: For at least five minutes watch the snowflake dial to make sure it does not move. Watch closely and remember not to have any water running during this time. If it does move, and you are sure that there is no water running at your home, you most likely have a leak.

Step 4: If there is not a leak indicated by the snowflake dial, next try running your irrigation system to check for broken sprinkler heads. Check every zone individually to make sure no sprinklers are spewing water erratically or are not working at all. A broken sprinkler head can flow 13-16 gallons of water per minute and, if left unrepaired, will waste about 7,800 gallons in a month of typical watering.

Check out our YouTube Channel for step-by-step instructions on checking for leaks!

What to do if you discover a leak

Once you get the leak fixed, you can provide our customer service department with a receipt for the leak repair, showing either services from a plumber or parts from a hardware store, and we can adjust your account to accommodate for a leak up to once a year. You can request a leak adjustment by calling our customer service department at 940-440-9561 or emailing customerservice@mustangwater.com.

Mustang Special Utility District’s Board of Directors approved a $1 million project in an effort to drastically improve waterflow for the residents of Crescent Oaks, a neighborhood in Oak Point.

The project includes the installation of 8,400-feet of 8-inch water line along Martingale Trail and Lakeshore Boulevard. The main will feature additional valves and fire hydrants. The additional valves will allow water operators the ability to shutoff water flow in isolated areas when maintenance is required—something that was previously not possible and resulted in wide-spread water outages. 

“This upgrade to the water system will prove to be a great improvement,” said Oak Point City Manager Stephen Ashley. “Due to the increased number of water valves being added, fewer customers will be without water when repairs do have to be made. Further, the addition of fire hydrants will increase fire-fighting capabilities in Crescent Oaks Subdivision.”

This is the second major improvement project Mustang has tackled for the Crescent Oaks area since acquiring its water system in 2015.

“The original system in Crescent Oaks was poorly designed and constructed using lower quality materials. It was also poorly maintained for decades which doesn’t help matters. We’re excited to get this project started and see this significant upgrade put into place. It demonstrates our commitment to provide superior water service to our customers,” Mustang SUD General Manager Chris Boyd said.

Installation will run concurrently with a repaving project backed by the city of Oak Point. The project includes the repaving of Martingale and Lakeshore, ditch grading and a 700-square-yard cul-de-sac.

"I’d like to thank customers for their patience and understanding while we work through this project and expect that there may be some planned and unplanned outages during the final phases of construction," Boyd said. 

Fortunately, construction is expected to be complete by Spring 2021, but as expected, we are experiencing service interruptions during the final steps. 

One of our top priorities is minimizing the timeframe that customers are without water, but due to the poorly designed system, service interruptions are not entirely avoidable. 

For information regarding planned and unplanned outages, please keep an eye on our website, or be alerted to updates by subscribing to push-notifications here.