{"id":49329,"date":"2021-06-22T20:27:57","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T00:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=49329"},"modified":"2021-06-22T20:28:07","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T00:28:07","slug":"leaking-septic-system-becoming-a-legal-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2021\/06\/leaking-septic-system-becoming-a-legal-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Leaking septic system becoming a legal matter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A home in Southwest Florida has been a smelly nuisance to immediate neighbors for almost a year. The health department has become involved and a lack of response from the homeowners is forcing the hand of health officials to make it a legal matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Florida Department of Health in Lee County says homeowners of a house in Lehigh Acres are responsible for an odor that is not well met by nearby neighbors. DOH-Lee says the cause is due to a leaking septic system at the home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou can smell it for miles,\u201d said neighbor Dagoberto Amador.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" src=\"https:\/\/w3.cdn.anvato.net\/player\/prod\/v3\/anvload.html?key=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%2Fc3o9NjQweDQ4MCZpdT0vMjA1NDIzMDgvUHJlX3JvbGxfdGVzdCZpbXBsPXMmZ2RmcF9yZXE9MSZlbnY9dnAmb3V0cHV0PXZhc3QmdW52aWV3ZWRfcG9zaXRpb25fc3RhcnQ9MSZ1cmw9W3JlZmVycmVyX3VybF0mZGVzY3JpcHRpb25fdXJsPVtkZXNjcmlwdGlvbl91cmxdJmNvcnJlbGF0b3I9W3RpbWVzdGFtcF0ifX0sInJlYWxUaW1lQW5hbHl0aWNzIjp0cnVlLCJoZWFsdGhBbmFseXRpY3MiOnt9fSwiaHRtbDUiOnRydWV9\"  width =\"640\" height=\"360\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>DOH-Lee is in the process of getting the courts involved to bring a solution to the matter. The health department wants a judge to require the homeowners to repair and clean up their property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s like having six or seven toilets open because the pool that\u2019s there, you know, that big huge pool that they got,\u201d Amador explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amador said his neighbors across the street have an issue with their septic tank and it has persisted since July 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAnd then he dug a ditch all the way out to the main ditch next to the road, so that all these excretions, all the garbage, come out,\u201d Amador said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DOH-Lee has visited the home several times to issue citations, but there has not been noticeable cooperation from the homeowners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe smell gets really heavy right after dinner, I guess when they all start using the bathroom,\u201d Amador said. \u201cAnd it seems to be quite a few people over in there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>DOH-Lee on May 11 began to issue the homeowners citations on a daily basis, with $22,000 in fines having accrued since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We tried to speak to the homeowners but were not able to reach them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the homeowners don\u2019t begin to cooperate, DOH-Lee wants a judge to declare the property uninhabitable and ask the Lee County Sheriff\u2019s Office to make sure it remains vacant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe like to have our Easter egg hunt here for the great-grandchildren, the grandchildren,\u201d Amador said. \u201cAnd that was interrupted because the smell was so bad. Everybody had to go home earlier. They couldn\u2019t take it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A home in Southwest Florida has been a smelly nuisance to immediate neighbors for almost a year. The health department has become involved and a lack of response from the&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":49330,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[422],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49329"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49331,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49329\/revisions\/49331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}