Back in 2020, officials from the City of Hattiesburg entered into a consent decree with the United States Department of Justice, the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the United States Environmental Protection Agency to address the issue of Sanitary Sewer Overflows, which happen when sewers release raw sewage that can contaminate water or flood homes, among other safety hazards.
That decree – which followed almost seven years of negotiations between those entities – has now led to the creation of Hattiesburg’s Clean Start Sewer Program, which is dedicated to repairing or replacing deteriorated, broken or improperly connected sewer service lines within designated priority areas within the city. The program was announced by Mayor Toby Barker during an April 4 news conference held at Hattiesburg City Hall.
“Clean Start is dedicated to repairing or replacing deteriorated, broken or improperly connected sewer service lines on private property,” Barker said. “This program has just over $200,000 allocated to repair projects for homeowners who meet specific criteria.”
That criterion includes property eligibility as follows:
- The property must be located within designated priority areas;
- The property must be used for residential purposes; and
- The property must have a sewer service line in need of repair, replacement or disconnection of illicit connections.
Owner eligibility must include:
- The household income must qualify as low-to-moderate, per the Housing and Urban Development 2023 income limits for Hattiesburg;
- Proof of ownership of the home; and
- Heir properties and 16th-section land leaseholds may be eligible under certain conditions.
The initial program funding is set to cover at least 45 repair, replacement or illicit connection removal projects for eligible properties.
“First, we know that sanitary sewer overflows are caused mainly when stormwater – particularly during hard rains – gets into the sewer lines, and then overwhelm and fill up the sewer lines to a point where stormwater comes out of the manhole cover,” Barker said. “The city has invested tens of millions of dollars in the last few years replacing main lines under city streets.
“However, we also know that many service lines on private property are faulty, meaning that even if the city takes care of its lines, if we’re not also working with homeowners to replace those private service lines, then we’re not tackling the entire problem. Stormwater getting into private lines quickly finds its way into main lines and still causes SSOs. That was the reason that the Department of Justice and the EPA wanted this in the consent decree.”
The Clean Start Sewer Program was presented to Hattiesburg City Council members during a February work session before being approved by a unanimous vote at the council’s March 5 meeting.
Interested property owners can submit an application online at https://rb.gy/re8sbc, which includes basic household information such as ownership status and income verification. Applications also can be submitted in person at the city’s Transportation & Engineering Department at 212 West Front Street in downtown Hattiesburg, by email at cleanstartSEP@hattiesburgms.com, or by mail to Transportation & Engineering Department, ATTN: Clean Start Hattiesburg, P.O. Box 1898, Hattiesburg, MS 39403-1898.
Program steps include:
- Application intake, in which interested participants submit the application for eligibility review;
- Pre-inspection, in which eligible applications will undergo a sewer line inspection to assess the need for repair or replacement;
- Contractor selection, in which qualified contractors will be selected based on a competitive quote process;
- A tri-party agreement, in which a formal agreement will be executed between the applicant, the contractor and the city; and
- Project execution, in which approved projects will proceed with the necessary repairs or replacements.
A map of qualifying areas can be found online at www.hattiesburgms.com/cleanstart, along with household income requirements.
“Through these holistic efforts, working together, we aim to contribute to a cleaner, safer and more efficient sewer system for our city,” Barker said. “So we encourage anyone who might be eligible, or think they might be eligible, and that meets the income requirements, to apply for the Clean Start Sewer Program.
“We encourage folks, as long as the money lasts, to come in and apply.”
