HOUSTON – Residents of southwest Houston, from Mission Bend to Third Ward to Spring Branch to Westbury, may experience water pressure that is lower than normal for two weeks beginning Monday.

Shannon Rodriguez, a supervising engineer with Houston Public Works, said workers are installing new water valves at the Southwest Water Pump Station on Newcastle Drive and will have to shut down a 66-inch water main along Richmond Avenue.

“This is a scheduled project that we've been preparing for for several years. It's gone through the design process and we're prepared to shut it down,” said Rodriguez. “Just like you have to perform routine maintenance in your house with the replacement of faucets and valves, we have to do the same thing within our drinking water system with our valves.”

Water service or quality will not be affected. Rodriguez estimates that the amount of pressure loss will only be between 3 and 5 percent. That is to say, if you consider your current amount of pressure to be 100 percent, then on Monday, starting around 9 a.m., you may notice it dip to about 96 percent.

“It may not affect a lot of our customers but we want to go ahead and speak to the public and let them know we're doing this work and if there are any problems they can reach out to us via 311 and Houston Water will be more than happy to help,” said Rodriguez.

The project is expected to be complete by Dec. 18, at which point the reduced water pressure at any home will return to normal. During this time, the work will be contained to the pump station so no roadways will be affected. Also, any dip in water pressure will not affect the Fire Department's ability to fight fires.

Google Earth Map of Impacted Area: https://goo.gl/4YBuqi

Anyone with water service concerns is asked to call 311.

List of ZIP codes affected:

77085

77043

77055

77079

77007

77077

77057

77056

77027

77019

77006

77004

77098

77046

77005

77401

77081

77030

77074

77036

77072

77021

77083

77025

77054

77096

77099

77051

77071

77031

77035

77045

77082

77024

77042

77063

Google Map of Area by Zip Code: https://goo.gl/aN1LwS