RIDGECREST &045;&045; While sewage may have been a past problem in Concordia Parish,

it also is an ever-present problem for residents in the Crestview Drive area.

The area is a part of the Concordia Sewer District No. 1, which services the unincorporated areas of the parish.

Many people in recent months have addressed the Concordia Parish Policy Jury about the sewage problem &045;&045; particularly raw sewage in their yards.

With the smell, the dead animals, the raw sewage in the ditches and backing up into homes, it is definitely a problem, residents say.

&uot;The sewer system is just bad,&uot; Crestview resident Tammy Taylor said. &uot;The rain aggravates an already bad situation,&uot; causing the ditches to fill and the streets to be covered sometimes, Taylor said.

And it is not just the smell.

&uot;It all goes back to the people’s state of health,&uot; Taylor said.

&uot;When you have waste products less than 30 yards from your home, you can only imagine.&uot;

While Taylor does not, some residents have the problem invading their homes.

&uot;It backs up and stops up and everything,&uot; said resident Barbara Faulkner, who occasionally has the system back up into her commodes and bathtub.

Different residents on Crestview Drive say they have different problems.

Faulkner lives farther down Crestview Drive, away from U.S. 84 and has problems with backups, while Taylor lives closer to the highway and has the problem in her front yard.

Faulkner said she has hired a plumber to come in and blow out the pipes to clear it up, and her husband, Tommy, has done it himself, too, anything to get it to flow.

But residents in the area have been dealing with problems with the sewage system for years.

&uot;We’ve had problems ever since they put it down,&uot; Faulkner said.

At one point, Faulkner said she was ready to get off the system.

&uot;We didn’t have this kind of trouble with the septic tank,&uot; she said.

But the system is getting better, Taylor said. &uot;You just bear with it and go on,&uot; she said.

Monday night, the Concordia Parish Police Jury passed a resolution to get Bryant Hammett and Associates to look into the problem in the Crestview Drive area.

In the five years the system has been operating, repairs have been made but problems still arise.

Civil Engineer Keith Capdepon with Bryant Hammett and Associates said there has not been a continuous stream of problems, but maintenance has been done as problems have come. The company did design and oversee the original project.

And the problem now is not exactly clear, Capdepon said. But, he thinks, much of the problem is with the older systems that also flow into the Crestview lift station, part of the new system. &uot;We’re suspicious that may be some of the problem,&uot; Capdepon said.

Capdepon said they will use smoke tests in the lines to try to locate a problem at first and also will evaluate the lift station.

&uot;We’re on it, trying to get it resolved,&uot; Capdepon said. &uot;It is going to take a little time.&uot; Hopefully, he said, it can be resolved in a couple to three months.

Meanwhile, the Concordia Sewer District No. 1 Board asked the police jury Monday night to help with oversight on its current projects &045;&045; after the projects are completed.

Eddie Turner, chairman of the board, asked the jury to hold the contractors accountable for the work they do on the system, making sure it will work properly once the work is complete. &uot;We are trying our best to keep that (problems on Crestview Drive) from happening again,&uot; Turner said.

Currently, the system is working on installments and improvements to the system.

According to George Jolla, maintenance manager for the system, current projects include:

4Improvement of the waste-water treatment area behind Ridgecrest so they will have a better quality of water leaving the treatment plant and going into their streams.

4Upgrading of the sewer treatment plant.

4New sewer mains and lift stations (to areasthat did not have sewage before) on U.S. 84 West, Persimmon Mill Road, Franklin Road, Townsend Lane, Abraham Lane, Green Acres and Cowan, Hammett Addition and Gooden Drive.

Jolla said they are hoping to have these projects completed by April or May.