Carrick residents faced with leaking sewage from apartment building

PITTSBURGH — Residents of Carrick reached out to Channel 11 for help, claiming that raw sewage had been leaking down their street and into a stormwater drain for several days. 

“When you come out here, you smell it,” said Jessica Fawcett of Wysox Street.

Channel 11 observed a stream of sewer water flowing down the street on Wednesday morning, originating from the rear of an apartment building on Brownsville Road.

“It gets, sometimes... like sludgy. It’ll be like toilet paper and brown stuff which I’m guessing is fecal matter, so it’s disgusting,” Fawcett said. “I’m about to throw up right now thinking about it.”

Fawcett said her vehicle must drive through the stream in order to park within her driveway.

“I have to take my shoes off and leave them outside, wash the bottom of my shoes... so I don’t track it into my house,” she said. “It’s unsanitary for not only animals but there’s kids that go up to the bus stop up here.”

Channel 11 called the PWSA, which sent crews to inspect the situation. The public sewer main was determined to be okay.

County property records indicated that the building from which the leak was visible is owned by CityLife Residential Property Management.

A spokesperson told us that the issue had occurred previously, and as soon as the property management team was alerted to it, a plumber was sent and “unclogged the line and cleaned any resulting spillage.”The issue then reoccurred, and another contractor was “immediately dispatched,” with the company stating “We will take whatever steps are necessary to take care of our tenants and neighbors.”

As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, the company updated Channel 11 to say that the issue had been fixed and a clean-up crew was scheduled.

Meanwhile, the PWSA said that the county health department was notified of the situation.

A county spokesperson told us, “The ACHD plumbing program is aware of the issue at 2434 Brownsville Road in Carrick and has been in contact with the plumber who is addressing the issue. ACHD will be following up with the plumber on 11/3/23 to verify satisfactory progress is being made.”

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