The City of Ironton will continue work on a deteriorated stormwater pipe that has collapsed.

The line runs along Eighth Street. Part of the pipe from Pleasant Street to Ashtabula Street is deteriorated to the point that multiple collapses are occurring, Mayor Rich Blankenship said.

“It has the potential to flood the major of south Ironton,” Blankenship said. “This is why this is such an emergency. We have the data. We have the pictures. We have the knowledge to say, ‘This has to be replaced.’”

Currently, two of the collapses are opened.

The collapses were found during work to clean and televise the storm water lines. A video of the pipe was shown to members of the Ironton City Council during a joint meeting of the public utilities and the finance committees Tuesday evening.

Compounding the problem of the deteriorated line is the way in which the pipe was constructed. The current stretch of pipe has four 90-degree turns in it, which contributes to water backup, the mayor said.

Blankenship plans to have the pipe replaced with a 36-inch pipe that is approximately 320 feet long and will be angled instead of having 90-degree turns. The pipe will connect with an 8 foot by 8 foot chamber and then will connect with a 76 inch pipe.

Blankenship said declared the situation an emergency during last week’s meeting of the Ironton City Council. Since that time he has received an estimate of $125,000 for the fix. The money will come from the stormwater utility fund and will not require the city to borrow money or raise any fees, Blankenship said.

The mayor said the state of emergency allows him to move forward with the repairs without first getting council approval or accepting bids for the work.

“If I bid it, (it will take) eight weeks,” the mayor said. “We do not have eight weeks. We can’t allow this to continue for eight more weeks.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen between now and then. We know there’s really bad places and the potential for more collapses because we’ve been in the pipe.”