Whee, neighbors are dumping raw sewage in their back yard... (tanks, drain)
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As long as it's fully remediated it shouldn't be an issue.
I would disagree--if it is said that raw sewage soaked into the this soil, some people would NEVER be interested in buying the property, no matter what remediation was done to the surface. If it is the waste water effluent--liquid, not the solids, people accept that better, for some reason.
I would disagree--if it is said that raw sewage soaked into the this soil, some people would NEVER be interested in buying the property, no matter what remediation was done to the surface. If it is the waste water effluent--liquid, not the solids, people accept that better, for some reason.
If it's cleaned of right, a layer of soil, down to about 12 inches, will be taken out. There won't be any solids just left to decompose into the ground. I don't know what the water table level is where the OP is at. I could take a wild guess that it's shallower than it is here where I am in NV. But I don't know exactly. Water table is a factor in any waste spillage clean up. For this I could again guess that it's probably deep enough that the filtration is pretty decent, and taking out 12 inches would be sufficient. Actual "remediation" won't be required. Remediation is a bit more than just a clean up. That's a process where real toxins , chemicals and such, are involved that don't break down naturally.
House waste, sewage, is a bio hazard, but is readily cleaned up and sanitized with very simple methods, and it also breaks down naturally. This won't be a complicated clean up, arduous yes, but it won't require space suits and remediation methods. A dig out and a good, clean layer of new topsoil will work. Wouldn't hurt to spread a sanitizing layer in before the topsoil. Kitty litter and powdered detergent with bleach. Actually, maybe put that down before any excavating. Then just dig it and put clean fill in. Some sort of sanitizing does seem in order. An earlier list of pathogens another poster put up was quite accurate as to what swims in sewage. None of which would be pleasant to contract. But these bugs die quite readily using just soap and water, add bleach and good old sunshine to mix, the danger is quite low of the saturated soil being a future issue.
The cleanup can be effectively and simply done. It will be a pain, but not rocket science. And there won't be any issues from this in the future that would effect selling the property. It wasn't Yellow D that hit the ground. I know when they bust meth labs in houses around here, the house is condemned out of hand. The chemicals used to cook meth are rather nasty and the vapors impregnate the walls and such. But this wasn't a meth lab...that we know of. From the OPs description of the tenants it could have been.
This should be the last of the drama updates (good grief, at least I hope so!):
No TV or Radio news station has expressed any interest, I've reached out to each and every one I could find contact information for within 100 mile radius. The local print newspaper sent someone by just this morning, so if she prints something it'll reach tens of people. No lawyer wanted anything to do with this situation, most didn't even bother to call me back.
But that's fairly moot as we have apparently annoyed enough people and made a big enough fuss from enough different angles that I'm now getting answers and there is some resolution Planned. It's 100% in the owners hands as of right now. He's required to remediate the soil on his property (but only that soil, sadly ~ thankfully it's a bowl and the "water" on my property came back from tests with no fecal mater) and show work progress within the next week. He has a month/30 days to start work on fixing the sewer issue, if either deadline is missed then the city steps in with citations/court action.
Now, the best news I've heard is that the sewer line runs downhill, which is through either my property or my neighbors rental (see photo of metal shed) AND the city has no easement. That gives us both right for refusal. Anyone care to guess what my thoughts are on allowing them to tear up my yard for this guy? Well, I'm apparently not alone as I just spoke with the other property owner and he was surprised to learn that with no easements, he has the right to refusal and volunteered that he would also refuse them. That leaves one option, a "mini-lift" station to get the sewer up and into the line that runs down the highway that fronts the house, and all the associated state permits to work on the highway.
This owner doesn't have the money necessary to do all of this work (personal opinion plus that of the city manager and a few others), and the city manager is saying that he suspects the house will simply need to be taken down. He added "unless it falls on it's own before then", while talking about inspecting the inside of the property for the source of the damage and noted there's a lake under the floorboards.
Normally I'd hate to see a 1930-built structure be taken down, I'm firmly for the preservation of older homes. But this home has ZERO appeal for an owner-occupant. There's no on street OR off-street parking (legally, the renters park on the side walk and block up the alley), no yard, it's on the side of a hill, fronting a relatively busy highway with its associated noise (we're thinking that the parking and yard vanished when the road was widened from 2 lanes to 5). Add in the rough condition of the structure and I just don't see it ever being owner-occupied and being part of a Better community.
One ironic item, the family that was living there moved in after they caught their Prior rental on fire. Wish there were a way to warn all future property owners....
Too bad this property owner had be a complete tool and cut down my privacy screen because "they thought they saw a snake" and couldn't be bothered to find out about property lines. Made me go all the way through filing a small claims court before he bowed to my Massive demands ($300 to buy 6 trees before court, the full ~$1200 for cleanup, fence repair and the trees plus I was going to ask the judge for an anguish judgement they deemed appropriate if it went to court) for no reason at all, and drug it out 5 weeks too. Too bad when you treat others so poorly that they refuse to help you in the future...
To be fair, this has been happening (the leaks) for 6 weeks and probably closer to 8~10. That's how long I've had the pool next to my driveway. I may have investigated earlier except for a few things, it had been quite wet/rainy, the driveway is new this year and we've been fighting drainage issues since day one and had recently made a rather major change in the back yard that I thought was contributing.
More or less, I thought I'd moved my trouble area, though water had never Stood for more than a week in the last trouble spot.
Add in the cooler weather where things don't stink so much or so frequently and we had been gone for 2 weeks of that total time, it all adds up and points strongly to this issue having been present for 1~2 months and maybe 3. Warmer weather, a new dog that's an escape artist, me checking the fence line to get an idea on what repairs were needed and suddenly it's discovered.
Earth view is pretty unhelpful:
I see my labels aren't showing up very well (red numbers on the roofs), #1 (bottom center) is the offending house with the cesspool under tree cover on the "up" side of the house towards #2. #2 is the other rental and received the worst of the sewage overflow. I'm to the left (house with the fresh and clean concrete driveway), #3. Near the #1 house you can see 3 mulch piles where the new trees were planted after they cut down my privacy screen. This image is new since June or July 2016.
To the bottom of the image is going up a hill, roughly 200' in elevation over 1/4 mile or less. The foundation of their house is about the height of my roof eaves and everything slopes downhill pretty much straight "up" on that photo.
I would think that both you and your neighbor should deny the sewer encroachment and when the land is cleared you and your neighbor should buy the now empty useless lot for yard expansion.
The only way to control the property with some certainty is to own it.
As to the comment of digging up the yard for sewer laterals that really is very rare here...
The entire neighborhood had all the laterals and mains replaced... old clay with a few cast iron and orangeberg in the mix...
All done with burst pipe method...even runs of several hundred feet... a new seamless line is pulled through the existing...
As to surface sewage... of course it is disgusting and a sanitary nightmare... that said... a friend cleans/repairs sewers for a living... he has been waste deep in it and also has swimmed through it in crawl spaces of homes... 60 years old and doing it for 42 years and his two sons are also in the business... all healthy and spend every working day with the stuff...
I would think that both you and your neighbor should deny the sewer encroachment and when the land is cleared you and your neighbor should buy the now empty useless lot for yard expansion.
Ditto. Looks like it was probably subdivided from #2 in the first place.
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From the OPs description of the tenants it could have been.
No lawyer wanted anything to do with this situation, most didn't even bother to call me back.
