Lawrenceville-- It's yet another side effect of our struggling economy, and it's a messy one.
In Gwinnett County, a homeowner uses his video camera to capture a man as he dumps waste collected from septic tanks directly into the county sewage system. Companies that collect septic waste are supposed pay to to have it treated at a county facility.
"People are finding ways of not spending money," says TDyler Richards of Gwinnett Water Resources. "This is one of the ways they're doing it, unfortunately."
It's unfortunate, and illegal.
Employees who descend below street level to clean the county's sewer system are finding more and more evidence of illegal dumping. They come face to face with chemicals, untreated waste, and grease, a lot of grease.
Below one manhole they found a grease monster standing ten feet tall in the sewer pipe.
"When that happens, it clogs one up and causes an overflow," says the water department's Jody Braselton. "Sewage could get in the lakes and we don't want that."
It's the county that pays for the equipment and the manpower to clean it up.
"We could actually do criminal prosecution, but that's expensive," says Richards. "We'd like to fine or find other ways to stop them."
In the case of the man caught on tape, his company was fined 900-dollars.
Anyone who sees illegal dumping into the sewage system can call Gwinnett Police at 770-513-5100, or Gwinnett Water Resources at 678-376-7000.
