Sewage spills on an OKC homeowner’s lawn, she’s told she’d have to pay up
THE VILLAGE, Okla. (KFOR) – A homeowner who lives at the corner of three jurisdictions near Oklahoma City is upset after someone else’s sewage pipe busted on her lawn and she was told she might have to pay for it.
“There is raw sewage just spilling out into the street and every time someone flushes it just pops out and pours out more,” said Lori Giachino.
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Giachino was told she’d have to pay for it even though she pays sewage to Oklahoma City Utilities monthly.
She has lived in the house for several decades, her family has owned it. The whole time they have paid the monthly fee for sewer maintenance.
Giachino is in a rare spot in the city, she lives at the corner of Nichols Hill, The Village, and Oklahoma City. Most of her bills are filled out with OKC but there is a bill or two that has her paying to The Village.
Officials with utilities told KFOR that her home is at the corner of all three.
Two weeks ago she began to notice water trickling from a spot at the front of her lawn.
“Our pipe runs on the side of my house and out to the main city line,” said Giachino.
She decided to call OKC Utilities to see if the problem could be fixed but they told her to call The Village since that is where her address is technically.
“They told me to call back to the city,” said Giachino. “They both say it is the other one’s problem and now The Village is telling me that it is a private line and I need to get a plumber out to see the problem.”
She was told that because it’s on her property, it’s her problem.
“It’s not my sewage line,” said Giachino. “Then why am I paying the city sewage rates every month?”
She got ahold of the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality who came out and inspected the problem.
“He told me that he has never seen something like this before,” said Giachino. “But he told me that they would try to figure out how to fix it.”
KFOR contacted D.E.Q. Friday who eventually said that it is Oklahoma City’s issue to handle.
“They told me that’s the city’s freshwater line and I said, but two days ago, I smelled sewage,” said Giachino. “So it’s, I guess it depends on when somebody’s been using the bathroom recently but it comes out and it pops out through here (off of her front lawn). Yeah, It’s coming up out of the ground right there. They just pushed a shovel into it yesterday and saw that there is a hole in the pipe.”
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The sewage as of Friday had seeped down the street through almost five houses and continued.
Giachino posted on The Village/OKC Facebook page to see if anyone could help her, and it gained traction. She was searching for any answers or a plumber to help her with the situation.
KFOR contacted D.E.Q Friday morning who said, “The City of OKC works city sewer line issues both public and private, so this is not within DEQ’s jurisdiction, so you’ll want to contact OKC. “
Oklahoma City Utility got back to KFOR Friday afternoon and said that they are actively looking into it. Within 30 minutes of the spokesperson saying that they had a field lineman out to inspect the line.
“I just want this fixed. Every time I mow the lawn or walk outside I smell someone else’s mess,” said Giachino. “I have been paying myself and the other two houses that are tied to this line have been paying the city for sewage maintenance for 65 years. And now that it needs to be maintained, they’re telling us it’s not their responsibility and somebody needs to tell us what we’re paying for and why we’re paying for it.”
OKC Utilities told KFOR Saturday morning they will try to have someone out there to figure it out.
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