Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I have been living in Gloucester since 2002. Since 2003, I have been trying to get some assistance from VDOT to help better drain my yard. I have two drainpipes on my land. One is on Burkes Pond Road and the other is on 198. The drain on Burkes Pond Road is set at a 90-degree angle to the drainage ditch. This causes water to back up in my yard and on the road. Many times, the drainage pipe is completely underwater which pushes water towards the drainpipe on 198. The drainpipe on 198 does not drain water from my property nor does it drain water onto my property. The pipe is set at an angle that makes it useless. The pipe slants towards my property and sits about 2-3 feet above the ground on the other side, which does nothing.

I have spoken with numerous VDOT supervisors since 2003 and received many promises, all unfulfilled. The latest promise was from VDOT Saluda residency supervisor Joyce McGowan, who promised in May of 2015 that she would put a new pipe in on Burkes Pond Road that would allow the water to more quickly drain the water from the ditches. McGowan said that right after VDOT took care of the potholes from the winter, she would schedule the work on the new drainage pipe.

I waited what I thought was an appropriate amount of time and called McGowan. She could not remember what she had promised me. She said that I have a natural depression and that is why the water won’t drain. Her failures to keep her own promises are causing me depression. A gentleman named Walter was present when McGowan promised the corrective actions. McGowan did have some dirt delivered, but no amount of dirt will allow the water to drain from my property due to the drainage pipe to nowhere under 198.

I have spent my own money to try to alleviate some of the flooding and it has kept the water from reaching my house as it did before I brought in dirt. Now the water just sits for sometimes three weeks before it drains. Again, I must spend my money to purchase mosquito control items due to the large pools of stagnant water. I have called the local environmental people for guidance and was told it was up to me and that I could get no help from the state or the county.

I would like McGowan to reply in writing as to why she promised to fix the drainage and then mysteriously couldn’t remember her own promise. I wrote a letter to [then Gov. Terry] McAuliffe and he sent me a letter saying he was sure VDOT would fix it but offered no help. VDOT boss Aubrey Lane sent me a nice letter saying that the Saluda VDOT would fix the problem. I sent another letter to VDOT headquarters and was ignored.

Perhaps before I die, there will be a Saluda VDOT supervisor that will see the problem and fix it, even though I am not a wealthy or political figure, but just because it is the right thing to do.

Paul Burlingame

North, Va.