DENHAM SPRINGS - The toilets are working again at an apartment complex that is dealing with a major sewage problem. So far, tenants tell 2 On Your Side that the clean-up has been minimal and at least two of them are waiting for a solution from corporate.
For the past 12 days, Dan Vallot has been living in a stinky mess. Sewage started bubbling up from his toilets Sept. 22.
"It rises up and it'll spill over," he said.
His neighbor Renee Jenkins has been tiptoeing over the sewage in her apartment where it covers the floors and has soaked into the floorboards, causing them to warp and discolor. Her area rug and furniture are soaked with sewage.
"I just cannot understand why this is not an emergency situation to them," she said.
On Thursday, two days after 2 On Your Side first visited The Palms at Juban Lakes in Denham Springs, a vacuum truck was sucking up sludge from a wet well on the property. The sewage water that's been leaking on walkways, sidewalks, and parking areas has dried up but has not been cleaned.
At a meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 2, with The Palms at Juban Lakes, engineers, and the Livingston Sewer District, the group went over the situation and reviewed the lift station on site. The Livingston Sewer District tells WBRZ that it was at capacity and not designed correctly.
The Palms at Juban Lakes stands by a statement it sent to WBRZ on Tuesday and that the Livingston Sewer District has failed them. The apartment complex claims that it did not meet the requirements of an agreement with the parish in 2018. The Livingston Sewer District says this is not true and that it never agreed to build a lift station specifically for The Palms at Juban Lakes.
Vallot says he learned the source of the problem on Tuesday, Sept. 24, when a plumber visited his apartment.
"The plumber came out and he told me, 'I ran a snake, I know where the clog is; I can fix it but I have to cut a piece of pipe out and I was told not to do that,'" Vallot said.
Vallot has also learned from other tenants that this isn't the first time something like this has happened.
In an email sent to the Livingston Parish President's Office Thursday morning, an engineering firm says the issues caused in building one at The Palms at Juban Lakes have now been fixed - it was a clogged line. The email outlined a plan of action and includes upgrades to the pump station on the property at The Palms. That pump station won't be operational for another four to eight weeks, but temporary pumps will remain in place until the permanent station is operational.
While the plumbing is working again, Vallot and Jenkins are still waiting on an acceptable offer from The Palms at Juban Lakes. Jenkins went to the office Thursday morning. When she brought up the current situation of her sewage-covered apartment, she was told that the leaking water was coming from her air conditioning unit.
The Palms at Juban Lakes says four tenants have accepted their offer to move. The Livingston Sewer District will provide the complex with information about its force main so The Palms can adequately size the new pumps to the existing wet well.