Constant Sewage Smell Upsetting Residents In Bronx Neighborhood
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A sewage problem is making life miserable for a tenant in the Bronx.
The smell is so putrid inside her home, Makeeba Thompson said she would rather freeze outside in the blustery, winter cold than take in one more whiff.
For weeks, she has been unable to breathe.
"You're just bombarded with poop. You're gonna smell it as you as you come through the door. If you open the door right now and walk in my house, you'd be like, 'Okay, I'm getting ready to leave,'" Thompson said.
Thompson lives inside 131 West 197th St., along with her landlord, Freager Williams.
They claim the raw sewage in the basement is seeping from the apartment on the other side of a shared wall. The tenants in that building didn't want to speak on camera, but gave CBS2 a video showing fecal matter piling up in their basement as well.
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Williams said he's lost count how many times he's tried calling 311, the Department of Environmental Protection, and the other building's landlord to try to figure out why sewage is leaking.
The DEP told CBS2 on Wednesday, the blockage or break is indeed coming from the neighboring building.
Fan called the management company for the building responsible. A representative assured her plumbers were working on the issue.
The crew inside told Fan tenants had been flushing baby wipes down the toilet and that this is the second time this month they've had to clear a backup.
"Every day that we get up and we have breakfast, we have breakfast and sewage. We got coffee and sewage. We got dinner with sewage. We go to sleep with sewage," Thompson said.
The plumbing company said it will be sending people in the apartment reminders not to flush wipes anymore.
The tenants in the neighboring home hope that lesson will finally stick.
