Water rushing down Bay Ho streets left some residents in the neighborhood concerned, asking why water was being wasted.
After seeing the overflow of water on nearby streets in the middle of a drought, residents contacted NBC7 to voice their concerns, saying a pipe had been gushing water all of Tuesday and part of Wednesday.
The water comes from an area water main that city officials are replacing as part of the Capital Improvements Project, city officials told NBC7.
When crews put in new pipes, they must run water through them to ensure the water is safe to drink, per state and local laws.
To do this, crew must disinfect the pipes and test change while moving water through the pipes. To disinfect the pipes, they super-chlorinate the pipes.
Water going through pipes is then tested to make sure there are no bacteria and that the water does not contain anything that is harmful to people.
It takes several days before testing will show if the water is safe to drink or not. If the water passes, crews put the pipe in service.
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If the water fails, they start the process over again.
The water main in Bay Ho is on its fourth attempt, meaning it failed the safe water test three timesbefore. The reasons it may have failed before are unclear.
During testing, the non-potable water is dumped into the sewer system. Because it is not potable, water officials cannot hand the water out or allow others to collect it.
During past projects, crews have brought in trucks and used the water on nearby golf courses or Mission Bay Park.
For this project, city officials said they decided against using a similar storage tank because in the past, the costs have exceeded the benefits.
According to the city, a water meter is attached to the water source and the contractor is responsible for paying for the water used during the disinfection process.
