Sewer solutions

Paul and Dristin Gardner remember waking up last year to the sound and smell of sewage overflowing from the toilet into their Lookout Mountain, Ga., home.

Within minutes, the carpet, furniture and drywall in part of their home were destroyed -- the byproduct of a failing area sewer system and a 20-year-old dispute over maintaining and upgrading their neighborhood sewers.

"We ended up having to call 911 because nobody would claim responsibility for anything," Mr. Gardner recalled.

Nearly 19 months later, the couple still doesn't use part of their home damaged by what Mr. Gardner says was a backed-up main sewage line filled by heavy rains.

But the Gardners and 32 other homeowners in their Flintstone neighborhood just south of Covenant College could get some help next year under a unique partnership among a county sewer system in one county, the nearby college and the city of Lookout Mountain, Ga., in another county.

Backed by federal and state grants, the college and local governments hope to replace failing pipes and install new household pumps to limit the flow of rainwater into the mountain's sanitary sewer system.

The proposed $533,000 project should avoid sewage overflows like the one that damaged the Gardners' home last year and led two this year at the city of Lookout Mountain's sewage pumping station, officials said.

"For more than 20 years, residents of the Flintstone subdivision and Covenant College have been plagued by a failing sewer system," Athens, Ga., engineering consultant Angela Steedley said in an application for federal assistance. "Replacing aged, sanitary sewer system and pumping stations that serve the Flintstone subdivision in Dade County would correct serious health issues in the neighborhood and stop excessive infiltration into the sewer system."

The application suggests that the upgrades also could help clear the way for a proposed retirement community, known as Chapelbrow, as well as new retail and housing development in the proposed Town Center around the Lookout Mountain City Hall.

Bill Glascock, elected mayor of Lookout Mountain, Ga., on Nov. 3, has raised questions about Chapelbrow. But he said he supports the sewer upgrade.

"This is the best and quickest solution to this problem," he said.

AGING PIPES

The clay-pipe sewer lines and pumps that serve the Gardners' neighborhood were built in the 1950s to serve the Flintstone Air Force Base, which operated a small radar station on the mountain until 1962.

The sewers are now operated by Covenant College and owned by the Dade County Water and Sewer Authority.

Outgoing Lookout Mayor Tom Gifford said neither Covenant College nor Dade County "has the experience or the staff to manage a sewer system."

Brad Haven, sewer system specialist for the city of Lookout Mountain, said the sewage inflow into the city has nearly doubled in the past decade.

"Now every time rain occurs in the area, we have an ever-increasing flow from this community," he said.

Mr. Haven said he hopes with the new federal and state assistance that the sewer improvements can be completed in the next year.