A Magnolia family is fed up with smelly water, seeing bubbles form in the street after washing their clothes and smelling sewage.
Garland Street resident Mary Breaux and her son Ryan said they have been dealing with a sewage problem for years and no one from the city has helped.
The Breauxs, who are transplants from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, have contacted the city several times but they said not much has been done.
“When my mom washes clothes, you can see the bubbles come up in the street,” Ryan Breaux said.
They said they use a filter and they use their water for cooking and cleaning, although they distrust its purity.
“We can smell the sewage in our water when we use it,” Ryan Breaux said, adding that people smell the sewage when they pass by their house. “It’s a horrible smell, horrible.”
“I have to use a half bar of soap just to feel clean,” Mary Breaux said.
Ryan Breaux said he’s also suspicious of sewage problems because half of his yard grows faster than the other half.
“It has to be the sewage,” he said.
Breaux showed a reporter where moisture had began to bubble from beneath the floor in his home.
He said he’s tried to speak to Mayor Anthony Witherspoon and aldermen about the problem but to no avail.
“I went up there to talk to him and one of his secretaries told me he was out,” Breaux said of Witherspoon. “So, I left but as I was walking by, I could see the blinds move and him peeking out the blinds.”
“I can’t begin to address the assertion that I was in some way trying to avoid speaking to Mr. Breaux, because that’s never the issue,” Witherspoon said. “I can only assume that Mr. Breaux attempted to see me at a time when my work schedule was not permitting.”
Ryan Breaux showed a reporter two holes that had formed from the excessive moisture — one in his yard and another in the street near a storm drain.
“That hole just formed a few weeks ago,” Breaux said, pointing to the hole in the asphalt. “They put in a cleaning system but it’s right here,” Breaux said, pointing to the white pipe sticking out of the ground, “and the sewage line is over there,” he said, pointing across the street.
Asked about the sewage issue, Witherspoon said it’s a common problem everywhere and he doesn’t understand why the newspaper deemed the issue newsworthy.
“It’s a simple fix. I’m not sure why the Enterprise-Journal perceives this to be a newsworthy story,” Witherspoon said. “It’s a general maintenance issue, the kind that all cities and towns experience. This is a question that should be responded to by that citizen filling out a work order.
“That work order is forwarded to our public works department, and placed on their schedule for routine maintenance of a sewer clean out line. These clean outs, like in any other city, are a part of the city’s total sewer system.”
“My public works director, Alice Barnes, has explained to Mr. Breaux on several occasions that the city’s sewer line sits at a higher elevation than his property; therefore, a clean out was installed to rectify any issues of back flow onto his property,” he said. “Again, I don’t see how this simple maintenance issue is newsworthy.”
