ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – As water line work continues throughout Escanaba, the City Water Department is making efforts to keep residents’ lawns green and healthy.
According to Water and Wastewater Superintendent Jeff Lampi, grass seed restoration following work in front of some residents’ homes has not met expectations.
“It’s been a long-running problem that our restoration after projects have just stunk,” he said. “We grow more weeds than grass.”
The Water Department has notified its contractor, who has agreed to return to fix the issue at contracted job sites. Now, Lampi says the department is taking an additional step to make things right.
“We’ve invested a small amount of money into a hydroseeder,” he said. “Every city job, we expect to go and hydroseed and give the restoration our utmost attention. We care about our customers’ yards as much as anybody.”
Crews plan to revisit sites where hydroseeding is needed every Friday. The Water Department’s goal is to achieve 90% – 100% growth.
“The job is only as good as what we leave it,” said Lampi. “If we leave weeds, no one’s going to be happy with us. I feel it’s very important that we leave the lawn as well or better than it was when we got there. We’re not going to be able to put sod down, but we’re going to try to get everyone’s lawn looking back to normal the best we can. “
Lampi hopes to get as much reseeding as possible completed before winter.
The service line work is the first of three $20 million projects, with the other two projects planned for next year. Lampi says he appreciates Escanaba residents’ patience, as there will be a lot of digging involved throughout the city.
The City of Escanaba Water and Wastewater Departments host public informational meetings at City Hall on the first Wednesday of each month. Click here for the full schedule of City meetings or follow The City of Escanaba Facebook page for meeting updates.
