Plumber in Monahans

Monahans at a glance

Monahans is the county seat of Ward County, with a small part reaching into Winkler County. Its population was 6,953 in 2010 and was estimated at 7,836 in 2020. The town calls itself the Center of the Permian Basin.

What that means for your plumbing

Monahans holds the record for the hottest temperature ever measured in Texas: 120°F in June 1994. Heat like that bakes exposed pipe, hoses and outdoor fixtures and makes water heaters in hot closets work harder. Check outdoor connections for brittle plastic each spring; see fixtures and outdoor plumbing.

The sand dunes

Just outside town are the Los Medanos sand dunes, which Spanish explorers recorded in the 1770s. Wind-blown sand gets into outdoor drains, evaporative coolers and floor drains, where it settles and slows things down.

A town built on a water well

In 1881 the Texas and Pacific Railway hired surveyor John Thomas Monahan, who found that the lack of water would slow the line's construction. The well he dug produced about 250,000 gallons a day and made the town possible; before that, water had to be hauled from Big Spring. The settlement on the tracks was known as Monahans Well. When oil was discovered in 1926, the town shifted from farming to industry. Homes from the oil-boom years often still have galvanized supply pipe, which rusts from the inside and causes low pressure and brown water; ask about replacing it.