HILLSBORO, Texas (KXXV) — The City of Hillsboro made a move to start the Super Ditch construction but now has another potential problem on their hands.
- The city found a potential wastewater issue in some residences.
- The Super Ditch is delayed until weather conditions improve.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“Every time it will rain, our toilets would back up," said Kamilah Davis, a resident of Hillsboro.
I first introduced you to Kamilah Davis a few months ago, she and her neighbors experienced flooding due to a ditch issue. Fast forward to today, construction for a so-called Super Ditch is underway.
But there's a new issue, a potential wastewater problem.
Davis tells me she’s done research and believes she knows what's causing the problem.
“The lift station isn’t draining the water quickly enough," Davis said.
A lift station provides a better way to move wastewater through pipes. I sat down with the Hillsboro city manager to figure out what's being done to find a solution.
“It may be that there's an older pipe for example, that's that's been crushed, and it's allowing water to get in. It may be on private property where there's been a house that's been torn down. You've got that many funnels going directly into our wastewater system,” said Megan Henderson, the City Manager of Hillsboro.
Henderson tells me the city conducted a smoke test and identified 50 locations near and around Davis’ home. That's where issues were found with the wastewater system.
It's believed all but one of those problems were resolved.
But Davis said she's now dealing with something new.
“So they decided to put a backflow preventor on my sewer line, which means the sewage no longer comes into my house it will backup into my yard, and so ever since then, I’ve been having pools of water outside of my yard," Davis said.
While the city has set markers for the construction of the Super Ditch, she tells me she can't use the sides of her home and part of the backyard. While the city waits for better weather to begin construction of the ditch, Henderson tells me they’re trying to get to the root of the problems.
“So we are definitely going to be looking at lift station capacity. We are definitely going to be looking at the ages of those wastewater collection lines. We're not ruling those things out," Henderson said.
Davis said she's thankful for the work to make things right, but there's still more to get done.
“When I see the goal I would like for no water to be standing in my yard so I can actually walk to the back," Davis said.
