LEXINGTON, S.C. — A sewage pump truck has been parked behind two businesses in the downtown area of the Town of Lexington for the last five months after a sewage line issue.
Now, the town council is hoping to come up with a more permanent solution to the problem.
On Monday night the Lexington Town Council decided to issue an emergency ordinance to take care of an isolated sewer line failure that has been ongoing since March.
"The town has been made aware of a sewer line break that is located at... East Main Street, and has taken remedial measures to prevent spillage in the area. The remedial measures are only a temporary solution, and a permanent solution is significantly delayed due to steps required to obtain an easement," read Mayor Pro-Tem, Hazel Livington.
The town has been seeking to condemn a portion of the property in the parking lot or get an easement behind Cho on Main and Ohara's Bakery Cafe, in order to make repairs. However, the town has been unable to reach a mutual agreement with the businesses up until this point.
Town of Lexington spokesperson, Lauren Barnes says town council members are ready to make what moves they can now instead of having to wait for the condemnation process to go to court.
"The line itself was from 1925, so it's very old, and it's located under a building, so we can't fix it where it currently is. If there would be an equipment failure or if there would be a high volume of rain and high flow coming through, we could possibly see a sewage spill which we don't want to happen. So we're doing the emergency ordinance to just explore to see if we can find a more permanent fix," Barnes explained.
There is still no word on how long the repairs would eventually take but Barnes assures it would not impact the businesses. She says the town council is still working to determine what path will be best to take.
The emergency ordinance will last for 60 days to give the Town of Lexington time to work out what their options are when it comes to making needed repairs.