Water Leak at San Jose Neighborhood Remains Unfixed After Nearly 3 Weeks

A San Jose resident is frustrated over water officials failing to fix a city water line that has been leaking for 20 days.

Betty Cooper said she has called the San Jose Water Company several time to report the leak on Shilshone Circle. She said the water line has been leaking since July 11.

"I think it's awful -- in a drought," Cooper said. "I think it's awful when we're not in a drought to be wasting water like this."

Cooper said she has contacted the water company several times to report the leak and even wrote a letter.

"I asked them who gets fined for all this," Cooper said, adding that she has yet to get a reply from the agency.

The San Jose Water Company told NBC Bay Area on Thursday it prioritizes leak calls because resources don't allow the agency to get to every request as quickly as customers would like. The agency said it will get to the Shilshone Circle leak sometime next week.

During a test, NBC Bay Area found the leak took just over 3 seconds to fill a 16-ounce cup, which amounts to about 150 gallons of water every hour going down the drain.

Meanwhile, the city is letting some of its parks, like the Roosevelt Gardens, go dry during the drought. But officials have decided to keep the Rose Garden and Discovery Meadow area fed with water to stay green.

"It's really beautiful here. Thousands of roses, so green," San Jose-resident Leah Nascimento said. "It's a shame all this water is going to this, but at the same time I can't image all this going to waste."

UPDATE: San Jose Water Company workers were spotted Friday morning attempting to make repairs on the water line.

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