BAKER — Baker residents are dealing with frequent water outages that they say have become a regular part of life.

Jason Reynolds, who has lived in Baker for 10 years, said the outages are a constant problem. He said sometimes the city gives residents a warning, but other times the outages happen without notice.

This month, residents faced at least three separate water outages.

Mayor Darnell Waites said aging infrastructure and population growth are to blame.

"The water and gas lines are old as all get out," he said. 

Waites said much of the system was built decades ago and the city has spent around $10 to $12 million, most of which comes from federal grants, on infrastructure over the last seven years.

Crews are replacing lines and making updates, but Waites said contractors digging to replace utility lines are accidentally hitting water lines, causing the outages.