The City of Jasper is working with McKim & Creed to perform smoke testing on select portions of the sanitary sewers within Jasper the last week of November 2021. The areas that McKim & Creed will concentrate on with this project is the Main Street corridor starting at Burton Street at the north end and ending around Poole Avenue at the south end. Downtown, west of Main Street, will also be tested. Homes and businesses included within the area of smoke testing will be notified with door hangers by City personnel before Thanksgiving.

Smoke testing involves blowing non-toxic, odorless smoke into the sanitary sewers in order to identify areas where problems in the system may be. Smoke will travel through the main lines where it will come up through the ground via broken manholes, improper connections, damaged or missing clean out caps, or cracked pipes. All of these locations will be marked by McKim & Creed crews during testing, photographed, and provided to the City for rehabilitation. Smoke testing does not require access into homes or businesses, as crews from McKim & Creed will access the sanitary system through manholes in the street or easement. Smoke coming out of vent stacks on buildings is completely normal.

The smoke is non-toxic, non-staining, has no odor, and creates no fire hazard. Smoke should not enter homes or businesses unless there are defects within the internal plumbing of the building, or if the drain traps are dried up. Direct contact with the smoke can cause minor respiratory irritation in some people.

If your location is included within the area to be tested and people in your home suffer from asthma, emphysema, allergies, have difficulty breathing, or are immobile, and are planning to stay in the building during testing, please contact McKim & Creed at 727-442-7196 to discuss your specific situation.

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In order to prepare for smoke testing, we ask that all residences and businesses within the proposed scope of work be sure that all drain traps and plumbing fixtures have water in them by pouring a gallon of water into each drain, especially seldom used drains like garage sinks, basement floor drains, etc. This only needs to be done once and can be done as soon as you receive notification that your location is included within the area to be tested. If smoke does enter your building during testing, please open a window or door to allow the smoke to escape and immediately notify the crews working in your area.

Weather permitting, crews from McKim & Creed will mobilize on Monday, November 29th, and smoke testing will start on Tuesday, November 30th. If there is significant rain, testing may be delayed. The City of Jasper will provide updates on the status of testing on both the City’s website (www.jasper-ga.us) under the “News & Notices” tab) and on the City’s Facebook page.

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