MCDONALD Flooding prompts smelly situation for residents

A village official said finding the leak will be a long process.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
McDONALD -- Bert and Josephine Ulrich have gotten used to seeing and smelling changes in the creek along the back of their property in the past two years.
The water flowing through their yard on New Jersey Avenue normally comes from the village's storm sewer system and eventually flows into the Mahoning River.
In recent years they've noticed some discoloration and odor, which they believed came from the sanitary sewer system, but they've never seen it as bad as it was Wednesday and Thursday.
"It's gray," said Josephine. "We were walking down there, and Bert said, 'You don't want to see the creek. It's gray and it stinks.'"
The water, resembling the color of wet cement, coated rocks and grass.
The Ulriches took samples and started making calls.
"We called village workers and we called the [Ohio Environmental Protection Agency], and they directed us to the director of surface water, and he directed us to the director of municipal sewage," Josephine said.
They spoke with Robert Davic, an environmental specialist in the municipal sewage division of the OEPA in Twinsburg. Davic said that, in talking with the couple, he thinks it was untreated sewage.
Sewer blockage
Village administrator Robert O'Connell said workers did, indeed, find a blockage, which caused sewage water to overflow into the storm sewers.
"It was a blocked sewer line, which is a normal occurrence," he said. "It was brought to our attention, and we found it [Thursday] morning."
Workers weren't able to determine what caused the blockage, but did have it cleared by Thursday afternoon.
The water on the Ulriches' property was much clearer by then, but gray sediment and debris were still visible along the banks.
O'Connell said that while blocks in the lines are common, overflow isn't.
"There are 60 plausible reasons on why it happened, but we have to find out why it did," he said.
Workers will need to start checking the lines, pumping in water and dye to see where the leak is, O'Connell said, adding it could be a long process.
Though it's a problem when sewer water runs into a main waterway, Davic said, this case isn't as bad as it could have been.
Because of heavy rains, the Mahoning River is flowing higher and faster than normal, so once the water from the Ulriches' property reached the river, it didn't have time to settle and contaminate the area.
"By now it's so diluted and so far downstream there's nothing we could do anyway," he said.
slshaulis@vindy.com