NATCHEZ — Thanks to diligent city engineering, residents can expect an overflow of fragrant flowers this spring—not sewage.

After receiving numerous complaints about sewage overflow near the intersection of Highland Boulevard and U.S. 61 South, Natchez City Engineer David Gardner requested funds to address the problem.

“When we have torrential rainfall, there’s a sewer that comes out of a manhole and it overflows on the ground,” Gardner said Tuesday after an aldermen board meeting.

When the area gets extra rain, sewage often sprays onto the Highland Boulevard bridge area, Gardner explained.

Using funds provided by Natchez Water Works and Delta Regional Authority, Gardner said he plans to install a pump station that would connect to the sewer and funnel excess rainwater to a nearby empty lagoon, which will then be drained into a wastewater plant for treatment.

The root of the overflow problem, Gardner said, stems from a maxed-out sewer plant.

“The sewer plant is so overwhelmed with rainwater that we’re trying to alleviate anymore water coming to it by temporarily storing it (in the lagoon),” Gardner said.

TL Wallace Construction, based out of Columbus, will spearhead the project.

With $1 million coming from Natchez Water Works and $300,000 from Delta Regional Authority, Gardner said he expects the project to get under way within the next three weeks.

“As soon as the contract is signed and we have a preconstruction meeting, we hope to get this project going as soon as possible,” Gardner said. “We’re not being mandated by the state to do this. It’s something that we have stepped up to the plate and taken ownership of the problem. We want to get this fixed.”