Sewage floods Bellingham apartment grounds; tenants take to social media
Residents at the Old Mill Village Apartments in Bellingham have taken to social media to publicly call out their property management company, Peak Management, for what they say has been an improper response to a sewage leak that has been ongoing over the last several months.
In a post shared on Nextdoor on Saturday, Nov. 25, a resident wrote that the main sewer drain for four of the large apartment buildings has been backed up, causing intermittent sewage flooding in the bottom-floor apartments of one of the buildings. One apartment was flooded as recently as Nov. 24, according to the post.
The post also says that the drain in the parking lot has “significantly backed up” since construction started on sewer drainage a few months ago.
One resident of Old Mill Village told The Bellingham Herald she had returned home that day to water and sewage covering the courtyard in front of her apartment.
“When it rains the parking lot becomes a lake,” the post reads. “Raw sewage is potentially seeping out on the property which in turn drains out to the lakefront on Lake Whatcom, which is the city’s drinking water.”
The sewer overflow was reported to the City of Bellingham Public Works after-hours line on Saturday afternoon, according to Public Works’ Communications and Outreach Manager Riley Grant.
“Our on-call inspector responded and confirmed that the overflow was on private property and the public sewer system was operating normally. Whatcom County Health and Community Services staff were also onsite and all staff were able to confirm that there was no overflow into Lake Whatcom. The property owner was managing the situation with WCHCS oversight,” Grant said in a statement to The Herald.
A representative of Peak Management responded to the post on Nextdoor to “clear up some confusing and misleading claims in this post” saying they “understand how concerning this must be.”
Their response explains that a plumber came out to the property Nov. 25 “when the issue of sewage backup was first brought to our site team’s attention.” The plumbing company apparently cleared the drain line and considered the issue resolved. However, Peak Management’s team found that the drain was still not clearing properly the next day.
Peak Management called multiple plumbing companies and got one out to the property within an hour, fixing the issue, the company said in its response. The plumber determined the issue was “due to a mass of grease and “flushable” wipes in the drain line.”
The remaining puddle in the courtyard was cleaned by 8 p.m. that same night, Peak Management said.
“In short, our team responded timely and responsibly to this unfortunate incident. Management will be addressing the cause of the issue with the residents to remind everyone that grease and ‘flushable’ wipes should never be put down a drain,” the response said.
In a statement to The Herald, Peak Management said the sewage leak was quickly resolved and denied that the issue has been an ongoing problem. The company did not say whether any individual apartments had experienced flooding as a result of the sewage leak.
This story was originally published November 28, 2023 at 2:50 PM.
