Throughout her eight years on Hattiesburg City Council, Ward 4 Councilwoman Mary Dryden has seen tremendous strides in improving the city’s water system, including the replacement of old water lines and clearing up the problem of discolored water that once plagued many residents throughout the city.
However, drainage issues still remain in the city – including some on South 16thAvenue, where residents’ concerns recently prompted Dryden and City Engineer Lamar Rutland to check out that area. During their visit, Dryden and Rutland discovered that several ditches and pipes – which were installed many years ago – would have to be repaired and replaced.
“We looked at some of the areas that need to be addressed quickly, and others that need to be done in the long term,” Dryden told other council members at a recent work session. “I bring this to you not just for Kamper Avenues; we have drainage issues throughout the city, and I really appreciate your acknowledging that.
“It’s a goal that we need to take forward. I wanted to just bring this forward and let you know that this is something we’re looking at.”
Rutland said he and other city officials are looking at drainage issues in a more holistic way, meaning the problem is being addressed throughout the city and not just in one particular area.
“We have done a really good job of mapping and determining our sewer infrastructure, and we need to do the same for our drainage infrastructure,” he said. “So that was most of our discussion, was looking at drainage more holistically.
“We need to contract with somebody who can perform those tasks for us, and to determine where our existing infrastructure is. We need to map those out and determine where those insufficiencies are.”
Ward 5 Councilman Nicholas Brown also brought up the issue of poor drainage in his ward, saying he has received complaints about the issue even before he was elected to his position in 2017.
“We’re not just looking at 16thAvenue; we’re looking city-wide,” Rutland said. “Each council member, and respectively so, their main focus is their ward.
“Mary Dryden is concerned about what’s going on over there; Nick Brown is concerned about the conditions in his ward. Those topics keep coming up, and we need to look at it as an entire city, and not just in each individual ward or an individual street.”
Currently, there is no timeline as to when a large-scale project might begin to correct the issue throughout the city.
“We’re still investigating, trying to figure out what our first step should exactly be, and who that should be performed by,” Rutland said. “So we’re still doing a preliminary investigation on that, and going through those steps.”
