ECTOR COUNTY, Texas — "It is a pipe issue," Ector County Utilities District Board President Tommy Ervin said.
Since Monday, about 18,000 Odessans have been lacking water due to a pipe leak.
The broken pipes were put in place in 1977 and had about a 40-year life expectancy.
Meaning these pipes became outdated 3 years ago.
Lots of people are asking why it has taken so long to fix.
The ECUD board president says they have been waiting on equipment, but that is not the only delay.
Ervin continued to explain that ECUD employees have also been making sure not to hit and break any oil, gas, phone or produced water lines.
These two factors create a situation that is not ideal.
"Inside our system itself we have some deficiencies as far as smaller pipe that creates a pressure issue and a volume issue at certain times of day because the pipes in our area, some of 'em are too small," Ervin said.
These small pipes are creating a big problem.
So they've found a long-term solution.
A master water plan, which is expected to break ground in June.
ECUD will essentially be re-gutting the entire pipe system.
"We're puttin' 'em in new. We have to," Ervin said. "Our system can't keep growing like it is. It just, it hardly won't stay up with the demand."
The plan also includes adding about 6.5 million gallons of storage water.
Currently, the county has none.
"When we do the water master plan, we will feed our system from our master pump station and elevated storage tanks - will give us 3 different supplies coming into our system," Ervin said.
With all that's happened this week, Ervin wants to thank Odessans for their patience.
"Everybody in the Ector County Utility District that depends on the ECUD water, thank you for conserving water. Thank you for your comments even though some of 'em were ugly," Ervin said. "That we are doin' everything that can possibly happen to get the water turned back on and doing it correctly and safely."