An Indianola homeowner may soon be getting some relief from a water leak on her property she said has been flowing for over a year.
Theresa Causey, a Henderson Street resident, told The E-T this week that the empty lot she owns across from her home has had a leak since she bought the house, and she has reported the leak to the city on multiple occasions.
“We have called the mayor’s office, and we have been told we can get on the agenda,” Causey said. “I’ve called public works and have talked to Mr. (Public Works Director)Robert Spurlock so many times. He always tells me he’s right on his way.”
There is a tall wooden fence on Causey’s property line that abuts a commercial property.
Causey said that some people have been pulling the fence down to create a shortcut to businesses like Dollar General.
The water buildup has exasperated that situation, making it nearly impossible to fix the fence, she said.
“If I hadn’t called Mr. Spurlock personally, and he told me numerous times, ‘I’ll be right there,’ that just frustrates you and makes you mad. It does,” she said.
Causey, who lives with her mother, said they moved from the Roundaway community after buying the home and the lot.
The water that consumes much of the parcel has made it impossible to have it mowed, she said. Had her brother not come out and dug a trench for the water to flow into a storm drain, she said the flooding would be much worse than it is.
“When I got my money, all I wanted to do was get me and my momma a decent little house,” she said. “We liked it because we could sit on our porch and look at the lot. It was empty. And now, we don’t even look at it.”
Indianola Mayor Steve Rosenthal said that he checked the record, and he confirmed to The E-T that the leak had been reported in December and then again earlier this month.
Rosenthal did say that although a crew had been out there before and had attempted to fix the leak, he did not know if it was a city line causing the issue.
“The leak is on an easement between houses on West Gresham and commercial property on U.S. 82,” Rosenthal said. “It’s kind of in the middle of them, and we don’t have a line back there.”
Rosenthal said that since the city does not have a line in the vicinity, he speculates it must be a feed line that used to serve a home where the empty lot is, and he says it could still be a hot line and pressurized.
Nevertheless, Rosenthal said the leak will be fixed and hopes the line will be capped, which could prevent leaks in the future.
“We do intend to fix it,” Rosenthal said, adding that he hopes to have a crew out there by the end of the week.
