Black residents in Rochelle, Ga. are preparing a lawsuit against their city government over years of discharging raw sewage onto their properties, reports Earthjustice.
The town, which recently made headlines for its first-ever integrated prom, is divided by railroad tracks that place White residents on the south side of the city and Blacks on the other side. Sewage pipes were repaired on the south side of the tracks but not on the north side, which has resulted in sewage back ups that overflow into the streets and yards of its residents.
Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization, notified the city on Thursday (May 2) that if the problems are not fixed in 60 days, it will file suit under the Clean Water Act to “stop the unpermitted discharges of raw sewage from manholes, broken pipes and a ditch.”
Residents complain of having to shovel and bury fecal matter, toilet paper and other debris off their property after sewage overflows that have happened three to four times a year for decades.
“Sewage overflows my pipes and flows under my house,” said Rufus Howard, a Rochelle citizen who is represented by Earthjustice. “It’s time somebody did something about it. They [the white community] live comfortably and I want to live comfortably too.”
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