South Mansfield residents fed up with persistent yard flooding from water leak

SOUTH MANSFIELD, La (KTAL/KMSS)- Ariel Washington reached out to NBC 6 when she couldn’t get answers or a problem resolved. The problem was a Village of South Mansfield main water line on her street that was leaking.

The leak resembled a stream of water flowing through her neighbors’ yards and into her backyard and has been leaking since September of this year.

Washington says it is a health issue at this point, drawing pests. She said, “With Mosquitoes come snakes, snakes love water. We’re in the country. My kids can’t come and play in the backyard, you know, we can’t go anywhere in the backyard. It’s green algae growing in the water.”

South Mansfield Mayor Alvin Williams told NBC 6 he knows about the problem has been working to get it resolved.

The city can’t close that valve because it serves many homes, and they can’t repair the leak because Louisiana 811 has not cleared the area for them to dig up the line.

The plumbing company contracted to do the work submitted a ticket to 811, and some utilities were cleared, except for AT&T.

According to a representative from La. 811, because AT&T didn’t do its part in a timely manner, the ticket ended up being closed.

The solution, they said, was for the city’s plumber to submit another ticket.

NBC 6 did find evidence that a new ticket was filed, and AT&T released the following statement to us: “Our locations are marked by third-party vendors. We’ve escalated this request so that all markings to identify our buried utilities can be completed as soon as possible.”

The leak should be fixed soon, but Ariel wonders why it has taken so long.

She said, “I am shocked and I am very disappointed because it took the news station to come to get an answer.”