City of Hoxie Deals With Sewer Issues

Hoxie officials fear the city might have to replace more sections of an inferior sewer pipe that was installed more than 25 years ago.

The Lawrence County city has already spent about $20,000 to replace an approximately 540-foot section of the line that was reported damaged about a month ago, said Mayor Lanny Tinker.

Tinker said officials couldn’t track down the name of the contractor who installed the lightweight, 6-inch PVC pipes in an alley between Carolina Street and Kelly Drive in the city of about 2,750.

“It was a lighter weight PVC that didn’t hold up,” he said. “Just the pressure of the weight of the ground pancaked some of them.”

Earlier this month, the flow in the sewer line came to a sudden stop, he said. The project was expected to be finished at the end of last week.

Inferior PVC pipes also were used to connect 12 homes to the section of the sewer system, Tinker said. The property owners, though, are responsible for the pipes on their land, he said. Out of the 12 homes, nine have been reconnected as of last week. Tinker fears an entire development of six or seven blocks could have the same inferior sewer pipes.

The city will conduct more testing in the spring.