Decatur Public Works has been busy patching water leaks that have sprung up throughout the towns water infrastructure.
In a Board of Aldermen meeting last Tuesday, Public Works Director David Anderson told the board workers have patched several leaks over the past few weeks.
“We’ve taken care of a bunch of them, found water lines that’ve been leaking for a long time,” he said.
One line they patched, Anderson said, he didn’t even know was there. Loggers working behind the Newton County Health Department called and alerted him to a leaking water line.
“We went and looked and it was a 2-inch line blowed out, and it had been blowed out,” he said. “I had no idea we had a line there.”
Decatur Aldermen pondered where the line could’ve come from. A 2-inch line is too large for a residence but not large enough for the Newton County Alternative School or any businesses in that area.
Aldermen Mark Buntyn said the board needed to consider the line may have been installed illegally. With the size of the leak, the town would’ve received a call from an upset customer about the lack of water, he said, but no calls have been received.
Anderson said Public Works did install a valve while repairing the line, so the water could be shut off if need be. Buntyn said his recommendation would be to shut off the water and see who calls.
“Cut it off and figure out where it goes,” he said. “Let’s make sure we’re being billed for it when they call up here, because if they’re not being billed for it, they’re going to call.”
In other water business, Anderson said the time has come to have the town’s water tower inspected.
“We have to have that done for our health department inspection every five years,” he said.
The inspection costs $750, which covers all the requirements and writing up a report the town needs to meet health department guidelines, Anderson said.
The board agreed the inspection needed to be done and gave Anderson permission to schedule a time for the inspector to come by.
“I think that’s just something you need to call and have done,” Buntyn said.
In other business, the Board of Aldermen:
•●Approved using Small Municipalities Grant funds for ditch improvements along Fourth Avenue;
●•Approved Fontaine Engineering’s request to advertise for bids on a wastewater improvement project using Community Development Block Grant funds;
●•Transferred tax funds received by the state into the general fund;
●•Signed an agreement with the Kiwanis group to administer a Small Municipalities Grant; and
●•Approved Mayor David Anderson’s signature on paperwork for a Community Development Block Grant.
