JASPER, Tenn. – After completing internal inspections of all the town’s manholes and nearly 15,000 feet of sewer line over the past year, city administrators are ready to begin the bid process for the work to correct the many problems that were found.
Gary Cosby of CTI Engineers Inc. said the system hasn’t been inspected since it was built in the 1970s and the assessment found large cracks, bulges and offset joints in some areas.
Those problems allow rainwater to get into the system, officials said, and that means the town must pay more money for exceeding its sewage treatment capacity.
“The whole idea is to limit the amount of water that is leaking into the sewer system,” Cosby said. “Where the pipe is broken, clearly, water can either come in or go out.”
Cosby said Jasper’s manhole covers are in “remarkably good condition,” but they need to be sealed to prevent more rainwater penetration into the system.