Homeowner Had Uphill Battle to Get Downhill Sewer Pipe

When you get annexed, you have to pay a connection fee, but the connection itself ought to be routine.

"It's so depressing looking at this," Wright said as she stared into a pipe trench that in one place runs more than 9 feet deep. The hole for her connection to a new Cary sanitary sewer line stretches from her front yard all the way to the back.

Two months later, however, she still wasn't connected.

The plumber said that when he laid the pipe to specifications, the town pipe to which it was supposed to connect was 2 inches too high. If he raised the end of her pipe so that the two lines would meet, Thornton said, the system wouldn't work because sewage has to flow downhill for the whole length of the pipe from the house the street.

In Wright's case, the house sits below street level, so the sewer pipe has to run deep in the ground in order to go downhill all the way to the street.

"It's just one of those freak things. Unbelievable," Thornton said. He laid the pipe twice and said he couldn't find an error on his end. He claimed Cary's pipe was off by 2 inches and the town needed to fix it.

Wright said repeated calls to all kinds of town leaders and workers got her nowhere.

"I am stuck in the middle because my plumber's swearing he's done the best he can. Cary is not interested they've got their money. They could care less what happens to us," Wright said.

The next day, Thornton and a town inspector met at Wright's house, re-measured everything and somehow the pipes connected.

"Don't ask me where we found the 2 inches because I can't tell you," Thornton said.

"Merry Christmas to me," Wright said. "This is so exciting. Thank you."