Laredo launches real-time water outage map to show locations, restoration estimates

City of Laredo officials announced a new, real-time online water outage map intended to give residents immediate information about water-service disruptions and reduce uncertainty during outages.

The announcement came at a utilities department press conference where Mayor Victor Trevino, Utilities Director Tarek El Sabe and Assistant City Manager and City Engineer Ramon Chavez described the map as a transparency and customer-service tool. "The new technology will improve transparency, streamline communication during service disruptions, and empower residents with timely and accurate information," Mayor Victor Trevino said.

The map is live on the utilities department website and will show outage locations, estimated restoration timeframes, the crews assigned and work status, officials said. "You can quickly check the map, to see updates," Ramon Chavez said. He also thanked U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and noted federal involvement in recent infrastructure funding and coordination: "We want to thank Congressman Henry Cuellar. Again, like you mentioned earlier, Congressman, 20,000,000 that we received, and we did meet with the US Army Corps of Engineers, last week."

Utilities Director Tarek El Sabe said the map is intended to allow residents to see issues without first calling 311 and that city teams built the tool without outside consultants. "We did not invest in consultants and all of that. This was done by our collaboration of engineering, distribution, GIS, and, our, water plant teams as well to ensure that all pieces speak to each other," he said. He added the system is staffed around the clock: "it's 24/7." He also said planned features for later phases include adding construction events and planned outages, and an initiative around burst pipes will be added in a future stage.

Chavez provided current construction and funding context the city linked to the announcement: $11,000,000 is under construction to replace about 30,000 linear feet of waterline, and the city has received about $20,000,000 tied to recent federal engagements, he said. City staff said the map should be updated promptly after crews report events; one official said map updates should appear "within 15 to half an hour" of an event being reported and that restored outages will be removed so they do not linger on the map.

Officials invited media and residents to test the live map immediately after the announcement and asked for feedback through the utilities department and 311. "Im looking forward for feedback from the community and, you know, anyone to say how can we improve the service," Tarek El Sabe said.

The system launch is an operational change rather than a formal policy action; the city said future phases will expand features and that staff will continue to refine map accuracy and the process for reporting and removing outages.