Cleveland Grimes

The Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority has agreed to work with local plumbers to work on lines that connect customers' homes to main sewer lines.

But it's still unclear what the payment process will be.

"The question is how to establish those prices," said Louis Wright, the county's finance director and a member of the authority's board. "We haven't come up with a method by which to establish those prices."

The authority has been working for several months to get local plumbers to participate in an inspection and repair program that includes an extra $8 monthly fee for about 24,000 customers. Authority officials wanted to hire plumbers to do the work, but also wanted to make sure the customer fees could cover the charges.

The authority and the plumbers now have worked out a system by which the plumbers will supply information to the authority but have more direct communication with customers. But there's still some question as to prices.

Some plumbers were hesitant to participate because they believed the authority was coming between them and their customers.

The authority will pay for repairs or replacements only when rainwater is infiltrating the sewer system.

Authority Executive Director Cleveland Grimes the prices must be set through the county's purchasing guidelines.

"You can't set rates. You have to bid to get to those rates," he said. "We're trying to look at the options of how we can do that."

Mr. Grimes said the recent flooding has not accelerated that work because the program is still not fully off the ground.

Norman Judd, owner of Best Plumbing and Heating Co., said it's likely that smaller plumbing companies more eager for work will undercut larger ones in the bidding process.

"You've got some plumbers out there willing to take jobs for nothing but wages," he said.

Julie Alexander of Bluewater Plumbing Co., one of those smaller companies, said fair is fair.

"I think that's called capitalism," she said. "Whoever can do it cheapest wins."

Mr. Judd said he expects larger companies like his will only get work from the authority when smaller companies that will take less money can't take on any more jobs.

"That's fine with me," he said. "The extra work would be nice, but I'm not going to base my business on it."

WWTA COMPROMISE

The authority will stop taking calls from customers about sewer line problems. Under a new plan, authority employees will read a script that encourages homeowners to call their own plumber. A plumber first must clear the homeowner's sewer line in emergencies. After that, the plumber must check the line to see if there is an infiltration problem.