Walhalla gears up to combat sewer leaks

Walhalla leaders were told last night that the Joint Regional Sewer Authority is committed to correcting a situation that has the potential to lead to more sewer overflows on the city’s southwest end of its sewer service area. The city’s utilities director and JRSA representative Scott Parris told the mayor and council that the plan is to raise the manholes on Flat Rock Road, where recent flooding caused the manholes to overflow. The infiltration that results is of great concern to Walhalla because it balloons the treatment charge the city must pay to the sewer authority. At the same time, an outside firm is finishing the mapping of the city’s sewer lines and the city is about to turn its attention to fixing sewer leaks inside the Cane Creek basin. It’s going to be an expensive proposition, but Mayor Edwards says Walhalla will apply to the state’s Rural Infrastructure Authority for a grant to help pay for the repairs. Edwards also announced that he will propose spending $100 thousand dollars in the city’s next budget for sewer supplies such as pipe to be on hand when the need for a repair is determined.