CROSS COUNTY, Ark. — It’s a stinky situation for an Arkansas family forced to live with dirty water and sewage behind their home. It’s not just dirty; it can be dangerous.
They told WREG the Parkin City Water Department is aware of the problem, but it’s been a month and it still hasn’t been fixed.
WREG’s Kristen Holloway traveled to Cross County to confront city officials about the issue.
“It was dirty water bubbling up,” said Tina Schuh.
For weeks, this is what Schuh and her husband have lived with: raw sewage and dirty water.
“It smells bad and it had mosquitoes,” said Schuh. “And if you know anything about raw sewage, it ain’t nice, it smells…it stinks.”
She says the problem started late August, and she knew she had to be proactive.
She says she reached out to the city water department; a crew came out to see what was causing the problem, but they left a mess and didn’t fix it. A big hole is just a few feet away from their house.
She says she and her husband can’t even stay outside too long because of the smell.
“We spoke to the city code officer, the state code office, the state health inspector, they’ve all been out and looked at it and even wrote reports to the city and yet we still haven’t heard anything,” said Schuh.
That’s when Schuh’s turned to WREG.
We reached out to the manager at the Parkin City Water Department. The person who answered the phone told us he wasn’t available but he would call us back. We called the mayor’s office, twice, and couldn’t reach her. We were told she doesn’t have email.
The runaround isn’t a surprise to this couple.
“We’re just frustrated about getting the runaround from everybody from the mayor to the code inspectors to the city,” said Schuh. “They’ll come out and look, but nobody will do anything, so we’re stuck with a hole with raw sewage in our backyard.”
The Schuhs say it’s not just the smell that bothers them, it’s also the inconvenience because the sewage is a magnet for insects and there are health concerns.
