HOMEWOOD, Ala. (WIAT) — Homewood leaders are addressing stormwater issues that have been plaguing the city for decades.  

City officials say they’re in the middle of a multi-million-dollar project to fix infrastructure issues that are over 70 years old.

Homewood city engineer Cale Smith says this summer, workers have used an inspection truck to monitor the stormwater infrastructure in the city.

“That truck has been going around tying our stormwater infrastructure to see what type of shape it’s in, what type of rehabilitation things have and what kind of projects we can do,” Smith said.

Smith says most of the flooding happens along Griffin Brook Creek, which runs through the Edgewood area. With help from the inspection truck, city leaders have created a stormwater master plan that will address the decade-long issue.

Smith says they have replaced and added storm pipes that have been prone to flooding in the past, and the city will bid on another project this month.

“It’s an as-needed pipe rehabilitation contract, so whenever our camera truck sees an issue with a storm pipe, we’ll have a contractor on board who can be responsive to us, and we can come out and fix the problem easily,” he said.

Smith says the price tag for all the projects in their master plan rounds out to $6 million. He says the city can’t afford to do all the projects in the plan this year, but the four they hope to start with will cost between $500,000 to $1 million.

Homewood Mayor Patrick McCluskey was unavailable to do an interview but gave a statement saying in part quote:

“Our new stormwater master plan was a fantastic decision, and I’m happy to know that our engineering department is working diligently to resolve and further avoid issues without [the] stormwater system.”

Smith also says they’re also working on grants to help with funding, and the timeline for all the projects should be done in a year.