
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 20, 1993                   TAG: 9304200417
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BASEMENTS AWASH WITH RAW SEWAGE

THERE IS all this talk about doing something to the Roanoke River to prevent flooding. That is great, but there is just as great a problem existing in the Penn Forest section of Roanoke County: an inadequate sewer system.

Roanoke County's public-service authority board has known for years that the sewer system that serves homes on Tanglewood Drive and Meadowlark Road is defective and inadequate. Yet they keep adding more homes and businesses onto this line without making necessary corrections. As a result, during severe rain storms (flood warnings), the homes can get a backup of raw sewage in their basements, which can be a major health problem.

During the summer of 1992, the board came up with what they believed to be a cure for this problem. Hah! They installed locks on the sewer lines so that now when it rains, they turn off the sewer servicing these homes. This means that for 12 to 16 hours residents have no bathroom facilities nor use of their water. These people have paid good money for sewer service and now cannot use those facilities. How would you like not being able to go the bathroom in your own home? DEBBIE BIRKHOFF ROANOKE

by CNB