SEATTLE -- Jeff Denenholz loves his house and his neighborhood.
"Rainier Vista is great, we've been here since '07," said Denenholz, as he sat on the porch of his home.
But there is one very serious problem.
"I feel like Homer Simpson put in my plumbing," he said.
Denenholz and five of his neighbors are caught in a sewer problem that is happening far too often. The plumbers who connected their sewer lines, long before they bought their homes, got them switched up. They hooked the sanitary sewer line, which collects everything that is flushed down the toilet or goes down the drain, into the storm sewer line, which is supposed to get only runoff from the roof and yard. The result is untreated sewage coming from their homes flowing directly into Lake Washington.
Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) workers discovered the problem during their routine testing last summer and traced the sewage through a maze of pipes to the Rainier Vista development. They discovered more than 60 similar problems over the last two years.
Usually they can get contractors who made the mistake to fix it, but in the Rainier Vista case, the contractor declared bankruptcy years ago.
Denenholz knows he'll get stuck the expensive repair, but feels the city - which signed off on the inspection and the development which hired the contractor - should be held responsible as well.
SPU officials said the inspections are just reviews of the plans and the contractors are responsible for any problems. If they go bankrupt, the homeowner gets the bill.
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