Columbia public works officials are removing private sewer lines from local neighborhoods. Public Works staff met with interested parties Monday night to provide information on the proposed Private Common Collector Elimination Project No. 13, which moves neighborhood sewer lines from a private system to the public infrastructure.
A petition in the area of Ross and Wilson Avenue brought about the need for change in sewer systems. In response Columbia Public Works proposed a move from the current privately maintained sewer to a more manageable public system. The new system will connect each property to a public main. Residents and homeowners in the area favored the move after encountering problems with the current system.
"We’re very much in favor of this proposal we know that the sewer line they are speaking of has had multiple problems for many years and we love the idea of getting those problems permanently repaired and fixed. So were very much in support of it," says the sanitary sewer engineer for Columbia, Allison Anderson.
Anderson agrees that the current condition of the sewer lines are old and falling apart. Anderson says every house that is currently on the private common collector system needs to participate in order to move on with the public system.
"And now that we have the interested meeting we go forward to council again for the public hearing for them to approve us to go on to final design," says Anderson.
After the final design is approved by the Columbia city council Anderson says the project will take approximately three months to complete.
