By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Work started Monday to repair the sewer line on south Main Street in Hays between Sixth and Seventh Streets.

According to Johnny O’Connor, assistant director of utilities, the old “line is in need of some repair.”

O’Connor said the work will be a “demonstration of patch repair on a busted sewer pipe.”

City crews along with employees of  JCorp Construction of Hays were well into the job late Wednesday morning, removing water from underground.  The work should be completed in approximately one week.

“The point is to get it repaired so Mayer Specialty Services of Goddard can finish videoing,” O’Connor added. The pipeline is being inspected by Mayer which is collecting data for other needed repairs or replacement, another upcoming city project.

The recent vote by Hays city commissioners to triple sewer rates over the next six years is, in part, to pay for repairs or replacement lines.

Some of aging lines in the 120 miles of the Hays sewer system are 75 to 100 years old.

No parking is allowed on Main Street in the one-block stretch where repairs are underway to the sewer line. Traffic cones are set up to reroute traffic around the construction site.