JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
Work has completely stopped on the huge Jefferson Street water pipeline project while engineers and other experts from the Department of Environmental Quality try to figure out where diesel fuel is coming from.
It is leaking down into the hole where the pipeline is being buried. Last year workers punctured a gas line under Jefferson Street causing an evacuation of people in the area. Jackson City Public Relations Director Chris Mims agreed to talk with us about the project delay.
Mims said, "We saw diesel in the soil. So, we stopped work, contacted the D.E.Q and pulled some samples and will sample the soil and make sure there is not an old underground diesel tank there, there have been a lot of businesses along that street, once the tests are cleared we can start work back up."
Diesel fuel can be smelled at the site and can also be seen in the water down in a hole. Nobody knows for sure where the diesel fuel is coming from at this time and so nobody can say for certain when this project will be completed.
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