Columbia resident demands action for what he says is a city’s sewer problem

Dennis Payne said he returned to his home on Blue Ridge Road last month to find his basement and garage flooded with sewage water.

“I am stuck with worrying about what my wife is going through, worried about where my kids are going to sleep that night, in a home that is literally being overrun by raw sewage,” Payne said.

The homeowner of more than two years said his sewage backup was caused by a clogged common collector.

According to Payne, the common collector was installed in 1966 and the developer at the time was never held accountable to any standard.

Columbia’s community relations specialist, Patricia Weisenfelder, said residents like Payne have two options.

“The residents can sign a petition, submit that to the city and then the process from there would be to get on the list,” she said. “They are worked on a first come first serve bases and once the funding is available, the project would go to council for approval and then the sewer utility would move through to collect easement and basically finish off the design and began construction.”

Weisenfelder said the other option would be for residents to come up with the money to repair the common collector, and have the city connect them to the public sewer system.

Payne, a father of three, said he and his wife are frustrated because it’s causing financial hardship. He said they would like to see the problem fixed within the next six months to a year.

“You know when the city of Columbia fails you like this, a place that I call home, that I told people it is my home, that I fought to get back to, that I enjoy coming home to, it hurts!” he said. “It hurts badly. You know, I just want the city to do one of those basic things that we give them money to do and that is to fix our infrastructure and maintain it,” he said.

Payne said the sewer line is running under four plots on Blue Ridge Road, servicing eight other properties.

The Blue Ridge Road homeowner said there is a program in place to purchase lines needed, to bring the property to code.

ABC 17 News contacted the city regarding the program and have not heard back.