Pickett High Dealing With Plumbing Issues

Pickett County High School experiencing several issues with its plumbing system, causing water leaks and backups.

Director of Schools Diane Elder told the School Board Monday Night the building has had ongoing plumbing issues and that the bathrooms and basement have seen occasional flooding. Elder said it can be hard to determine the root cause.

“We really don’t know on part of it,” Elder said. “We don’t know what’s causing all of it. Some of it the pipes are collapsing and they are stopping up and preventing the water from draining out to the sewer and just different issues in different parts of the building. The building is old.”

Elder said currently the high school has put a band-aid on the plumbing by shutting some of the lines off. Elder said she is hoping the temporary fixes can last them till Christmas break before extensive plumbing work can be done.

“It’s very important in some areas to not have those kids there,” Elder said. “But things have to happen and we just play it by ear and do what we have to do. That’s what we do is just try to get the proper people here to work on the building.”

Elder said on Monday morning Pickett County High School Principal Mitch Buckman told her that the basement of the building was a swimming pool. Elder said the plumbing issues don’t seem to stop.

“We had a problem last week that we had to deal with in the lower hall so it’s just one thing after another with it,” Elder said.

Elder said the school board has not reached out to anyone yet to look at the issues.