Orangeburg officials address raw sewage spewing in yards
ORANGEBURG, S.C. (WIS) - Officials with the city of Orangeburg Public Utilities say heavy rain could be causing raw sewage water to overflow into people’s yards.
That’s if you have a manhole located in your area.
A resident showed photos of what appears to be toilet tissue and sewage water spewing out of a manhole on Adden Street located near downtown Orangeburg.
The heavy rain came to a halt on Adden Street in Orangeburg but it left behind a mess.
Neighbors believe there is backed-up raw sewage that’s running out into the street and in their front yards.
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One woman says the smell is so unbearable she won’t even let her granddaughter come outside to play.
“It’s unsanitary,” said Adden Street resident Marsha Gardner.
Marsha Bellinger Gardner says that’s another reason why she doesn’t allow her granddaughter to come outside.
“I have been having this problem since 2019,” said Gardner.
Gardner says whenever the city experiences heavy rain a manhole on the street will overflow into her front yard leaving behind a gut-wrenching smell and pieces of toilet tissue.
“So there’s like raw sewage water, toilet tissue, comes up through my yard settles in my yard goes back down but then the ground has been saturated with raw sewage water,” said Gardner.
Randy Etters with the Department of Public Utilities for the City of Orangeburg says the five inches of rain and how low the neighborhood sits is what caused the extra spillage.
“Only when we have extraordinary amounts of rain do we have situations like we did last night,” said Randy Etters, Department of Public Utilities.
Etters says the water spewing out is about 90 percent rainwater and the manhole is essentially doing its job by spilling onto the street and then going back into the drainage.
“If it did not allow that discharge, unfortunately, that water would’ve come up into those folks’ homes, because those homes sit as low as that manhole,” said Etters.
But the water did back up into Gardner’s home once years ago and she had to pay the utilities department $1,200 to fix the issue.
Etters says that the issue at that time did not have anything to do with the manhole but with the sewer tap that runs from her home.
“The customer owns the line that ties into the sewer so the customer is responsible for any failure to that line,” said Etters.
Officials say they are aware of the issue and will be back out later to disinfect and evaluate the area.
Etters says the city does have a stormwater system and they are performing studies to figure out why the stormwater system can’t hold up against extraordinary amounts of rain.
Etters says there are around a thousand manholes located throughout the city of Orangeburg and if you are experiencing something out of the ordinary with the one located in your area, you’re urged to reach out to the Department of Public Utilities.
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