The smell of sewage in Alysia Brown's home was so strong, she woke up in the early hours of Wednesday and vomited.

Brown lives at 211 Columbia St. on the west side of Butler, and said a strong odor of sewage has been a problem in her neighborhood for years.

“It just keeps getting worse and worse,” she said.

Brown is one of several people who live on Columbia Street or intersecting West Penn Street who spoke about the smell.

She said she called Butler Area Sewer Authority in July, and someone from the authority came to her house to see if there was a problem.

She said they found no problem, and recommended she check the house's sewer traps. Duane McKee, the authority's temporary executive director, said that sewage traps are filled up with water to keep odors at bay, and sometimes these traps dry out.

Brown said she and her husband checked the traps and cleaned them, and that the smell remained. She also said the smell is present outside of the house.

She said the smell is stronger in the morning and at night.

McKee said this is likely because water is flowing through pipes because of showering and other water usage.

“I can't even have company over, and the holidays are coming,” Brown said. “How am I supposed to invite people over when the holidays are coming and the house smells like (waste)?”

She said she wants to sell her home, but that with the smell, there's no way she can. It's a problem that Nicole Laslavic, who lives at 720 W. Penn St., also experiences.

“For the past three, maybe 3½ years, we get a horrible, horrible sewer smell, usually when it's really hot out or after a big rain,” Laslavic said.

She said she contacted BASA several times, and someone from the authority came to her house to investigate the issue.

“The guy walked in with a flashlight, and he said that it seems like a personal problem,” Laslavic said.

She said she and her husband have given up contacting the authority.

“We want to move,” she said. “We'll never be able to sell a house like this.”

A few doors down, Hope Ross, who lives at 728 W. Penn St., also smells the sewage, though not as much as her neighbors.

“I just smell it periodically,” said Ross, who moved into the house in July.

Judy and Ronald Bowser have lived at 717 W. Penn St. for 50 years, and they said they have had issues with the smell for at least 10 years.

“When it starts to rain, you can smell it,” Judy Bowser said.

George Gilbertsen at 216 Columbia St. said he contacted his landlord about the smell, but that because the smell comes and goes, the landlord came and didn't smell anything.

Brown said she has contacted the authority on four separate occasions since July, and has not been able to get the problem fixed.

McKee, who began working with the authority earlier this month, said he is unaware of an odor problem on West Penn Street. He also said he is unaware of any complaints about the smell besides Brown's.

He said that authority workers went to Columbia Street Wednesday, opened manholes and put odor-masking chemicals in the sewer to attempt to assuage the problem.

The workers noticed that the manholes are not sealed, which McKee said may contribute to the smell outside of the houses. He said the authority is working to have the manholes sealed within the next few weeks.

He also said another potential remedy will be to check the traps in people's houses to make sure they have water in them.

However, McKee also noted that the issue may take longer to solve because the residences may not have traps in the sewage lateral pipes leading to the house.

McKee said these traps, which are found around newer homes but were often not included outside of older houses, prevent the smell of sewage from getting into a residence.

He also said the authority will check to see if the properties on Columbia Street have traps in their sewage lateral pipes. He said he does not know yet whether installing traps in lateral pipes would be the responsibility of property owners or the authority.

Brown speculated that there could be an issue with the sewage main. McKee said he does not believe the sewage main has a problem because it was installed within the last two years.

“There's work to be done on both sides,” he said. “The authority needs to do a better job of managing the flow (of sewage), and the homeowners need to do a good job of making sure that there is water in the trap, and that they do have a trap on the outside of the house.”