(Memphis) A North Memphis man says he’s had a water leak on his street for ten months and couldn’t get any help from MLGW. That is, until he called News Channel 3.
Eric Carter says the leak has been breeding mosquitoes and he fears it could create a sinkhole. He says the problem has been going on since September of last year when there was a fire on his street and firefighters had to hook up a hose to a fire hydrant on Suzanne Drive.
Ever since, there has been a leak going down the street.
“As you can see, that spot never dries up,” he said.
A wet spot sits in front of this house and water snakes down Suzanne, creating pond down the road.
“Birds actually take baths down there.”
Bird baths may be pleasant, but mosquitoes are not.
“With the water just settling, it breeds mosquitoes.”
More than that, Carter says that he fears for the neighborhood’s safety.”
I am concerned because if water is leaking underground then there could potentially be a sinkhole and we have kids that play on this street,” he said.
He says ten months have gone by and no one on the street can get much help from MLGW.
“I have called at least four times,” he said.
“Yeah, we’ve called in several times, at least four or five times,” said neighbor Michael Gregory.
Carter says after all the phone calls, workers have come out to the street twice to mark off the road, but nothing besides that has been done.
“I am disturbed because, like I said, my concern is the sinkhole and they are not coming out as if it’s not a major issue,” said Carter.
News Channel 3 made some phone calls Monday, and a just a few hours later, MLGW crews were there looking into the problem.
“I guess it takes Channel 3 to come out,” said Gregory.
Crews determined the leak was coming from a water main.
After ten months of waiting, MLGW said neighbors could expect the problem to be fixed by the end of the day.
“I see this getting rectified,” said Gregory. “I am happy.”
The work will hopefully dry up the bird baths and tell mosquitoes to take a hike.
MLGW says it drilled a hole on Suzanne Drive back in October looking for the leak, but it appeared at the time that it wasn’t their problem. MLGW says it looked at the time to be a leak from a neighbor’s property.
