By By Connie Nowlin Managing editor
When it rains hard, as it did in May, the septic system at Mary Hixson's house works slowly, and sometimes not at all.
"When it rains we have trouble with the bathroom and such," Hixson said.
But all that is about to change, thanks to an extension of sewage service into Hixson's neighborhood.
That work, done with a combination of city and county funds, is nearing completion.
The actual installation of the lines along Ponderosa Drive, Harris and Woodland Terrace, should be done by Monday, according to Frank Nettles, foreman on the crew laying those lines.
They are employed by Nordan Contracting out of Mobile.
"The street pipes are just about all in," Nettles said.
That crew put in the lines along the streets, and left stubs that will actually connect to the homes themselves.
That work must be done by licensed plumbers.
"A licensed plumber will be in here Monday to hook the houses up," Nettles said.
Hixson doesn't really care who does the install; she will just be relieved when the work is completed. She doesn't even mind the fact that now she will get a bill for sewage fees each month.
"This will make a lot of difference to us," she said. "It will be worth the trade off to us, even if we have a sewer bill."
The crew laying the lines were not sure how long the next phase, connecting the homes to the lines, would take.
The plan is to come back to the streets where the pavement was disturbed by the lines going across them and clean and resurface the streets involved.
"The engineers will have to decide how long to let the streets settle," Nettles said. "Then they will come in and pave or overlay the streets."
Mayor Howard Shell told a resident who lives on Sunset Drive, close to the area where the work is being done now, that there will be another segment of the area connected to the city sewage system soon, although the exact timeframe for that work has not been disclosed.