PITTSBURGH — The Allegheny County Health Department has intervened due to raw sewage running through a street in Overbrook.
Channel 11 is told the problem started with a public line that became clogged and started leaking.
Residents on Homehurst Street told Channel 11 they had been asking for something to be done, but say the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority has ignored them for almost three years.
"One time we had tampons, feces, everything in the street. It took them weeks to come," neighbor Natalie Leon said.
Neighbors said the raw sewage is spilling over and trickling down the street, where school children walk through it every day.
"We take our shoes off before we go in the house now,” neighbor Chris Crastley said.
Leon said she has battled with the PWSA for several years on the issue, but it argued the line was private. A judge recently ruled that it is a public line and the PWSA must fix the problem.
"Please do your job and honor your contracts with the city of Pittsburgh and take care of their citizens," Leon said
The Allegheny County Health Department deemed the situation to be a public health hazard and put the PWSA on a 10-day deadline to come up with plans to fix the issue.
Pittsburgh Councilwoman Natalia Rudiak said PWSA crews were working on the problem Monday.
“PWSA has so many issues on its plate right now - from the boil water advisory to lead in the water to the billing issue - fighting tooth and nail against residents to fix a sewer clog should be the last thing PWSA should be doing,” she said.