Internet company previously barred from Columbia breaks five water mains, damages neighborhood

An internet company expanding into the Midlands hit several water mains, flooded a neighborhood and caused a sinkhole in someone’s driveway last week in the course of laying new fiber-optic cable.

Lumos, a North Carolina-based fiber-optic internet company promising “internet built for the future” has been expanding into the Columbia area since last fall, but the installation of new cable has caused problems across the city.

The company’s work caused four water main breaks in the Sandhills area last week, and a separate water main break in the Meadowlark area earlier this month, Columbia Water confirmed. Those water main breaks led to flooding and significant damage in the Springhurst neighborhood off North Springs Road.

Lumos confirmed there had been three water main breaks in the Springhurst neighborhood, which is in the Sandhills area, “all due to lines being unmarked or mismarked.” Columbia Water is responsible for marking those lines. A Columbia Water official confirmed that three of the five water main breaks caused by Lumos’ work were due to lines not being marked or the markings being inaccurate.

“We are surging additional City assets to match our marking efforts with the pace with which Lumos is working and we are meeting regularly with Lumos representatives to coordinate on timelines to minimize disruptions,” Columbia Water spokesperson Benjamin Wildt said.

Lumos will conduct a supplementary review to support the city in locating water and gas lines using ground penetrating radar in future construction areas, a statement from Lumos added. But this is not the first time Lumos’ work has led to damage in Columbia-area neighborhoods.

Last fall, Lumos started leaving palm-sized cards in Columbia neighborhoods announcing that utility work would begin soon, “bringing the fastest 100% Fiber Optic Internet to your neighborhood. We’re all about speed, so we’ll be out of your way as soon as possible.”

Soon after, residents across Columbia started seeing damage uncommon for typical utility work, according to city officials. In November, Lumos’ work caused half a dozen gas leaks in the Elmwood Park neighborhood, and at least two major water main breaks in other parts of the city. Residents in Elmwood Park had to be temporarily evacuated from their homes in response to the gas leaks.

Columbia-Richland Fire Chief Aubrey Jenkins said in November that it’s not uncommon for leaks to happen when utility work is being performed. Not every gas line in the city is properly marked. But he said the fire department had never experienced a situation in which one company caused so many leaks in such a short time frame.

Following the November incidents, Lumos was barred from working in Columbia for several months after the Columbia-Richland fire department issued a stop work order against the company. That order has since been lifted.

“We’ve met with them and we’re satisfied with what they’re going to be doing,” Jenkins said regarding the company’s plans to avoid hitting gas lines in the future.

Jack Heape, president of the Springhurst homeowners association, said he hasn’t seen a utility cause this level of damage, or any significant damage, in the six years he’s lived in the neighborhood.

On July 12, the Springhurst neighborhood was without water for three to four hours after Lumos and its contractor broke several water mains. Hitting one water main also created a sprawling sinkhole in a resident’s driveway. The city of Columbia hired a contractor to repair the driveway, and Heape said those repairs are complete.

Heape said he would like to see someone from Columbia Water or Richland County supervise Lumos’ work in the future.

Heape’s concerns are two-fold. He’s concerned about the damage to his neighborhood, but he also said residents didn’t receive adequate communication about what the work would entail and when it would begin.

“I walk out of my house at 7 in the morning and there’s two guys digging up my front yard,” Heape said.

Lumos had left placards in residents’ yards, but Heape said there was no indication of when the work would actually begin. He recalls seeing and speaking to utility workers who were marking gas and electric lines weeks before Lumos’ crews arrived, but he said by the time the crews arrived, the markings had faded and were no longer visible.

Lumos announced last fall that it had received the proper franchise agreements with Columbia, West Columbia and Irmo to start laying 1,200 miles of fiber-optic cable between Richland and Lexington counties. The company promised to invest $100 million between the two counties, while expanding “high-speed internet access to many unserved and underserved residents and (providing) an added boost to economic development in the area,” the company declared in a press release Sept. 27.

A spokesperson for the city of Cayce previously told The State that Cayce had also experienced a few minor water line breaks resulting from Lumos’ work, but nothing to the degree that occurred in Columbia.

Lumos is active in North Carolina and Virginia, in addition to expanding into South Carolina. The company has also announced a $100 million investment in Greenville County .

Lumos crews are roughly 10% finished with their planned work in the Columbia area, affecting roughly 8,000 homes, according to the company. Crews will be in the Dentsville and Greenview areas next.