Ohio homeowners say a horrific odor has been wreaking havoc on their lives for years as sewage just sits rancid underneath their homes — and officials keep passing the buck on fixing it

‘It's so bad, some days it's like it'll knock you over’

Bergoch is a newcomer to the neighborhood and says the area’s rancid smell kicks in several times a week.

“It's disgusting,” he said. “Some days it's worse than others. It's so bad, some days it's like it'll knock you over, take your breath away.”

It wasn’t long before Bergoch began contacting local authorities to deal with the issue. After calling the county, the city, the sewer district and even the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Bergoch says some officials told him they weren’t aware of the situation in Mentor. That's when Bergoch decided to take matters into his own hands.

“I started the petition only because when I started to call the county, they told me it's not an issue. I'm the only person that's ever called,” said Bergoch. “So, I knew, after having these conversations with all my neighbors, I was like, well, that's not true.”

Residents believe the problem lies in the old sewer infrastructure underneath their homes. There’s also a marsh behind the area and a nearby water treatment plant, but Bergoch and his neighbors don’t believe either of those are the main source of the odor.

“They've built a number of new subdivisions around us that have tied to the main line. So I think it's just overloaded,” Bergoch said of the local sewage system. “It's not getting pumped through, it's just gravity fed, so that sewage sits in these lines.”

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Getting to the source of the problem

When News 5 Cleveland reached out to the city, reporters were told “something was reported to us in that area about 5 or 6 years ago,” and that the city would investigate the issue further.

Mentor representatives added that issues of this kind are usually investigated by the Lake County General Health District. County officials, on the other hand, reportedly said the smell was an issue for the EPA to handle.

The Lake County Department of Utilities said in a statement shared with News 5 Cleveland that the issue is receiving “urgent attention” and that it is “committed to performing any system improvements required to control odors emanating from the public sanitary sewer system within this neighborhood."

While Bergoch, Ryan and their neighbors wait for a resolution, there are lessons that other homeowners can learn from their struggle.

How to deal with issues like the Mentor stench

First, if you have a similar issue in your neighborhood, be sure to document everything, including dates, times and the duration of the disturbance. Discuss the issue with your neighbors and if they’re in favor of taking action, try to convince them to join you in calling the appropriate authorities to report the issue.

Like the residents of Mentor, you can call a number of authorities, including your municipal and county governments. Local environmental protection agencies can also help you to report and potentially resolve the issue.

Petitions are also an excellent way to show how the problem is affecting a number of people, and issues such as the Mentor stench may also be of interest to your local news station.

Finally, if your neighborhood’s issue — whether it be sewage smell, pollution or another environmental concern — causes physical harm to you or your neighbors, you can consider suing your municipality or the proper authority for negligence.