By ALEXANDER SIMONE

Staff writer

A Peabody fire hydrant flushing took place last week when a contractor hit a water line in the 200 block of N. Vine St., which occurred because the line had been marked wrong, John Beeman said at Monday’s city council meeting.

Public works superintendent Lucas Larsen attempted to shut off water at the house, but had to flush hydrants for several blocks because of valve issues. It took two-and-a-half to three hours to pump the water.

According to Beeman, the sewer line connection at his mother’s house was put in improperly by a previous resident, which resulted in water from her washer backing up and flooding her kitchen last week.

“I just thought it was the stool plugged up or something,” he said.

A Newton service was originally called to unblock the sewer line, but contractor Rusty Entz had to be called as well when it was discovered the line was not installed correctly.

Entz started digging and discovered that he hit the water line.

No one was charged for the water line break, and Beeman’s mother was compensated $1,087 for the sewer line fix.

“I, myself, agree that this should not have happened if it was done properly from the get-go,” councilman Travis Wilson said.

To keep similar problems from happening, the city needs more accurate maps of where water and sewer lines are, councilman Lindsay Hutchison said.

“We’re hopefully working with the public works department on creating an electronic version of where everything is, so we have a very specific location on the map with Kansas Rural Water Association,” she said. “As things like this come up we can add those to an exact location.”