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Residents say no one is taking responsibility for sewage overflow in Thornton

"Like someone had turned my toilet on backwards"
Posted at 9:49 PM, Nov 14, 2017
and last updated 2017-11-15 00:35:29-05

THORNTON, Colo. -- Sewage was flowing out of the toilet with such force that the lid was moving up and down when Tony Benigno returned home.

It's now been more than a week, and Benigno says sewage has continued to flow into and around his home, yet he says no one is taking responsibility for this disgusting and unsanitary mess.

“It was somebody’s poop that actually floated in the water out from underneath my house," said Benigno.

He described what looked like a river -- with solid waste and toilet paper running along his mobile home. He said the complex, Pine Lakes Ranch, was attempting to address an issue with the sewer line and that's when the problems began.

His neighbor also had sewage flowing into his home through the toilets.

"To be honest we don’t know what to do," said Migguel Hernandez.

The community manager, Vanessa Burciaga, told Denver7 the issue has been taken care of, but residents don't see it that way.

"I don’t know if you already spoke to the contractor or not. So that’s been taken care of," said Burciaga. She added, "Yeah and they just have to do the cleanup."

Denver7 also reached out to the city of Thornton, but a spokesperson said since the sewer system is private it's up to management to remedy the issue. Residents have also contacted the health department.

Crews were working outside of Benigno's home Tuesday, but he is concerned about who is going to pay for the damage to the inside. He says a restoration company has done $8,000 worth of work and they aren't even done yet. The waste also made its way into his heating system and needs to be cleaned out.

"We had so much feces on the rug that when they took it out, they had to double bag it just because the one guy almost got sick just cutting the rug out," said Benigno.

When asked about the inside of the homes, the manager replied, "The inside is on the residents."