VALDOSTA — A pump station installed on the end of Wilkes Circle has met some complaints, but the city claims it is the best way to serve the neighborhood.

A person claiming to be a Wilkes Circle resident called The Valdosta Daily Times this week, contending the pump station had affected what “used to be a nice neighborhood.”

“We put them there because it’s the least intrusive location on anyone’s property,” said Henry Hicks, Valdosta utilities director.

“Nobody wants a lift station in their front yard. That way we can serve multiple locations without putting a lift station in anybody’s front yard or back yard, and we can service everybody from that station.”

Hicks argued the pump station was the most efficient and least expensive way to service residents in the neighborhood.

“We try to dress them up to whatever the neighborhood wants, to make them look as nice as possible, but it is a lift station, and it’s the only way we can get sewage from that neighborhood into the system,” Hicks said.

Several recently planted trees were located at the pump station, and Hicks said the city will do other things to dress up the station.

“We typically plant shrubs,” Hicks said. “We don’t plant trees because we have to access the lift station for maintenance purposes, but it depends on what the neighborhood wants. Sometimes we’ll put up pretty fencing to hide it. Most of the time they’re always landscaped, but it’s the most economical way to do it, especially when you’re serving an area that can’t be serviced by gravity.”

Joe Adgie is a reporter for the Valdosta Daily Times.