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A water main break in January filled parts of Lavoin Keith Allison’s home with up to 5 inches of water, causing potentially up to $100,000 in damage.

But the San Antonio Water System, which owns the water main along Boerne Stage Road in north Bexar County, has said it will only pay the roughly $49,000 bill for drying out the house with industrial blowers, plus $2,500 to cover other damages.

“We are making this offer as a business decision and not because SAWS has any liability for this incident,” a SAWS claims coordinator told Allison in a Jan. 20 email. “SAWS has governmental immunity for the type of incident involved here and does not waive that immunity if this offer is rejected.”

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After the 24-inch main broke Jan. 14 and released a torrent of water that filled his backyard and rushed inside through a door to his water heater closet, Allison, 68, and his 66-year-old wife, Juanita, have been living at a nearby bed-and-breakfast.

For now, Allison has had help from his neighbor, Gary Schraer, a construction contractor who has been working with his crew on repairing parts of the Allisons’ home for free.

Being out of the house has taken a huge toll on Juanita Allison, who is in advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease and becomes agitated when she sees her floorboards and carpet ripped out, sheetrock being replaced and belongings in boxes, Allison told the SAWS board of trustees at its meeting Tuesday.

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“This issue needs to get resolved and it needs to get resolved now because my wife is at the point where she doesn’t recognize her house,” Allison said before breaking down and crying.

SAWS Vice President of Communications Gavino Ramos said the utility is working with the Allisons to try to resolve the issue and received new information from them as recently as Monday. SAWS officials did not respond immediately to more detailed questions emailed Tuesday afternoon.

Read more about this developing story at ExpressNews.com.

bgibbons@express-news.net,

Twitter: @bgibbs

 

 

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