OOLTEWAH, Tenn. — Some residents in Ooltewah are upset after they say work from a utility company led to water and power outages in their neighborhood.
They tell us it’s causing property damage that could cost thousands to fix.
People in the Meadow Stream community say it all stems from re-occurring water main breaks.
They say it started in the summer when contractors showed up and began working in the area.
“There was no communication on what was happening, when they are putting fiber optics in,” resident Austin Demaria says.
Since then, residents say there’s been a flow of water on the roadway and even in some homes.
The work even destroyed a part of one family’s driveway.
“I’m a contractor. Accidents do happen, but not close to every house they’ve done. And also hitting water mains, that was a big issue,” Demaria says.
This is just one of the several water mains that residents of Meadow Stream say have burst due to fiber optics being installed:
According to Demaria, it’s become a safety issue at this point.
“The way they’re ran the line, using their trucks to pull the cables through with straps, to me, is a very 1970s or 80s way to do it. You know, it’s very unsafe what they were doing.”
Long time resident Gary Whelock says he understands that this can be a difficult job, but says after a water main on his driveway was broken, the entire neighborhood lost water for 7 hours.
He says that was his breaking point.
“It’s a very difficult situation, trying to do a very dirty, tough, difficult job with what appears to be a little oversight,” Whelock says. “The crew in particular is well meaning, but they appear to be folks who have no experience doing this kind of work.”
According to Demaria, its all about a lack of communication.
“Everybody’s wondering why they spray paint in the lawns, nobody knew what was going on with flags everywhere. And we found out probably three weeks later that they were putting in, you know, fiber optics.”
We reached out to Volunteer Utility service for a statement on the situation, but they told us they do not have a comment at this time.