NewsWest 9
ODESSA - A smelly problem is brewing up in certain parts of Ector County, it seems lately Environmental Enforcement Officers for the county have been twice as busy trying to put a stop to the illegal dumping of sewage.
"We have about 11 cases pending right now, three were filed recently in the couple of past weeks most of them relate to illegal dumping," Daniel Ray, Civil Attorney for Ector County, said.
Ray says, one of those complaints dates back to March 29, 2011. According to court documents, an investigation revealed that septic water was flowing from the septic tank into the driveway and out onto Golder Street. Ray says the mobile home park received multiple warnings to get the problem fixed but nothing has been done.
"That's a big problem, there are children that live there and children that are exposed to raw sewage like coming out of a septic system can be exposed to all sorts of diseases," Ray said.
Davonia Davidson has been living in the mobile home park for the past three years, but for the last five months, she has had to put up with raw sewage filling up her backyard.
"It's not safe for my kids to play, I got a four year old, I got a 11 year old and they can't even play in their yard," Davidson said.
Although fines can be up to $25,000 a day for unproperly disposing of raw sewage, Ray says the county wants more than just the money.
"We are not gonna go after the guy for $25,000 a day for a year's worth of violations, basically what the county wants is to get it cleaned up and get it into a position where it's safe to live there," Ray said.
Ray says it doesn't matter whether you are a big corporation or an individual, if you are destroying the environment, you will have to face the consequences.
"The law doesn't discriminate based whether or not you are a corporation or an individual. If you are destroying the environment by poisoning the water, the law is gonna come down at you," Ray said.
