Sewage overflow plagues residence
CENTER TWP — A project to stop the sewage overflow that Cindy Allday says has been fouling the backyard of her township home during rain storms for 18 years could cost millions of dollars when work begins in 2024.
Allday said sewage from a sewer manhole flows like a putrid river through her backyard when it rains, like it did Monday night, since she and her husband, Mike, moved in. They are frustrated with the Butler Area Sewer Authority's failure to stop it.
“We had a major river running through my backyard when I left for work,” Allday said Tuesday. “It's just been awful and nothing's being done about it. It's so frustrating right now. We can't even use our backyard. It's a major health hazard to begin with. The smell ... We just don't know what to do.”
BASA officials have come to her property on Brewster Road many times over the years and told her that every remedy they've tried doesn't work. The authority recently developed a corrective action plan with the state Department of Environmental Protection, she said.
The plan calls for BASA to collect flow data from sewage lines through 2020, analyze that data by the end of 2022 to determine whether a new pump station or installation of an equalization tank would end the overflow and spend 2023 to 2024 engineering the project, seeking and awarding construction bids and finding a way to pay for it, said Duane McKee, BASA executive director.
“We are in process of collecting data to provide the DEP with a remedy. We just don't know the solution yet,” McKee said.
He said he has worked for BASA for two years, but knows about the Alldays' years of complaints.
Money is the reason the problem hasn't been fixed, he said.
“Right now, we don't have the money to do it. We have to find some method to fund it,” McKee said. “Low-interest loans are available. Grants right now are just nonexistent for infrastructure improvements.”
A significant amount of money will be needed.“It's going to be very expensive to repair. It's going to be in the millions,” McKee said.Rain water infiltrates the system and overwhelms the pump at the Brewster booster station located near the Alldays' backyard, forcing sewage to escape from the manhole in the couple's yard, he said.Water seeps into the old terracotta sewage lines, which comprise most of the system, after rubber gaskets between sections of pipe wear out, McKee said. Maintaining those lines is continual work, he added.Stormwater from submersible pumps in basements and other sources in the area that aren't supposed to be connected to sewage lines could also be contributing to the overflow problem, he said.McKee was at the Alldays' home Tuesday morning when she told him her dog got sick due to the sewage.Allday said a carpet cleaning company came Tuesday to clean up the mess from her dog. She said the pet won't be allowed in the back yard anymore.“I feel for her. She's fed up. I understand,” McKee said.The sewage flows through the couple's yard into a pond and from the pond into a creek, Allday said.The problem wasn't disclosed when she and her husband bought the home and her neighbors told her the previous owners had the same problem, Allday said.One previous owner installed a pipe under the backyard to direct the creek to the pond. The Alldays replaced the pipe last year at a cost of $8,000 after it collapsed, but the sewage overflow caused that pipe to sink, she said.“The $8,000 we put in our back yard is just a waste,” Allday said. “It's being ruined by this sewage water.”
