Norfolk, Va. - Some Norfolk residents are dealing with smell and mess from an overflowing sewer.
“It’s disgusting. I mean you can smell it and see particles and toilet paper,” homeowner Susan Ewsuk said.
“It’s like a geyser,” her husband, Alex Ewsuk, said. “It comes up out of the ground like a geyser. It’s pretty gross.”
The couple bought their home at the end of 17th Bay Street two years ago and they said they have noticed the overflow ever since.
“We kept noticing there would be water, very stinky water, coming out of the asphalt and holes throughout here. Three spots,” Susan said.
Contractors, working on a sewer main replacement along Pleasant Avenue, said Sunday's overflow was due to the lid from the sewer not being attached. This, they said, along with the rain, caused debris and gravel to back up the sewer.
The couple says this mess is seeping into a drain that runs into the Chesapeake Bay.
“There’s a clam bed and an oyster bed not even 200 feet right out there. We like to kayak in pretty lake quite frequently. There’s a beach around the corner at the park. Everything being affected by thousands of gallons of raw sewage that just went in today,” Alex said.
The contractors cleaned up Sunday’s overflow but until there is a permanent fix, the Ewsuks said they’ll be skeptical about bringing their one-year old out to the Chesapeake Bay.
The couple said they usually see the problem about every other month. They’ve reached out to the city about the overflow but were told this area is not the city’s property.
