Sewage from a Medical Waste Treatment Plant Flows Into Shreveport Neighborhood

Residents in one Shreveport neighborhood contacted the KTAL Trouble Shooters about outsiders using their street as a dumping ground. But, our Trouble Shooter Alexis Wiley has discovered that is not all that's wrong on their block. In late February, residents in the 1900 block of Maple street began complaining of sewage near their homes. At their request, we found out exactly where it came from and the source might surprise you. "It was just constantly running and we didn't know where it was coming from," Shannon Lewis, a Maple street resident, said. Lewis says the smell along their block was unbearable and residents had no idea why. The KTAL Trouble Shooters decided to find out.

The smell was sewage that flowed into the drainage ditch near their homes. The source was not a city line, it was Commodore Medical Services, a nearby medical waste treatment plant. " I hope whatever it was it wasn't hazardous to us," Lewis says," we love where we are and we don't want to move." According to the Louisiana Dept. of Environmental Quality, the plant's private sewage line backed up causing the sewage to drain into the nearby ditch. That line, however, is believed to carry only sanitary sewage, not hazardous waste.

"It looks like it was a sewage discharge line," Otis Randle, DEQ regional manager, said. "There shouldn't be any more concern than if it was discharged from anywhere else," Randle said. Randle, however, could not say for sure whether any hazardous materials were in that sewage; leaving parents like Shannon worried. "We would have kept the kids out of the ditch and not let the animals drink out of it," Lewis said.

The mess has been cleaned up and the smell has died down. But, these residents still want to know what exactly was in that sewage and why no one told them where it came from. " If something happens, notify us, just let us know," Lewis said. The DEQ is investigating Commodore Medical Services on a variety of charges stemming from how this spill was handled. Commodore Medical Services officials did not return our calls.