The Augusta Commission voted unanimously at the Feb. 21 meeting to allocate $850,000 in funding to replace the plumbing in the scoring towers at Diamond Lakes Park and Recreation Center.
For the past year, visitors to the park have been forced to use portable toilets; however, issues with the plumbing and drainage systems have plagued the site for years.
Now it appears that the original restroom plumbing will have to be ripped out entirely and replaced.
Owner Larry Jones and Business Manager Shalanda Morris of Universal Plumbing Inc. appeared before the commission to clarify the work they have recently completed and present some findings as to why the plumbing continues to back up at the facility.
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Universal Plumbing was contracted to work on the storm water drainage system, and Mayor Garnett Johnson was quick to compliment the company on the work it completed. He clarified that Universal was not the company to be blamed for the ongoing issues.
Jones speculated that when the towers were initially constructed, a worker for the company responsible for laying tile may have improperly discarded “mud,” a concrete material used to place the tile, into the drainage system. Instead of being flushed out, the mud hardened inside the pipe system.
“We tried to cut into one piece of PVC pipe and were having a hard time, even though it was PVC. When we got the section out, there was calcified material inside the pipe,” Jones said.
District 5 Commissioner Bobby Williams said the problems have been going on before he was elected to the commission.
“This goes back four or five years. I don’t know who the administrator was then, but someone should be held accountable,” Williams said.
None of the original contractors involved were identified in the meeting.
According to Interim City Administrator Takiyah Douse, funding from SPLOST 7 and SPLOST 8 will be used to complete the repairs. Douse said that the majority of the SPLOST funding was already allocated to Diamond Lakes.
Horizon Construction and ACC Restoration have been chosen to complete the repairs. No timeline was given as to when the restrooms will be operational again.
