FAIRHOPE, Ala. — A small hole in the city-run sewer system line caused a part of the pavement to cave in this week on Church Street between Fairhope and Magnolia avenues, said Dan McCrory, superintendent of the water and sewer department.

“First they discovered there was a big hole in the storm drain,” said McCrory, referring to the public works department that reported the problem. “Anything that went down the storm drain wound up in the sewer system, which is (located) below the storm drains.”

McCrory said any rumors or statements that a leak in the sewer system was causing waste water to flow into the bay were not true.

“It’s water infiltrating the sewer system, which is having to deal with rainwater on top of the waste water,” he said, referring to the additional quantity of stormwater runoff flowing to the waste water treatment plant, which then discharges into the bay from an outfall pipe.

“It’s an older terra cotta pipe, but I’m not sure when it was installed,” he said. “I’m working on a five-year capital improvement plan right now that addresses that through a technology called cured in place.”

He said that technology would result in existing pipes being converted into pipes similar to the PVC pipe used to patch the hole on Church Street on Tuesday.

“This is the only one I recall in the downtown area,” he said of the sewer line leak, leading to the storm drain hole and the pavement caving in Monday. “We had it fixed the same day.”

He said there were no adverse environmental impacts caused by the storm water flowing into the sewer system.