Suburban woman deals with sewage on property after gas leak repair

A woman in suburban Morris confronted a smelly mess lasting months that emerged after a gas leak repair from Nicor Gas.

Surrounded by wildlife on quiet hilly land, Kathleen King's quaint property was overtaken by a pungent stench of sewage earlier this year, months after receiving a gas leak repair late last year.

King said she was told that her property's gas line had to be repaired, with Nicor Gas completing the necessary work last fall.

Nothing seemed to go awry for King until this spring, when a nasty surprise related to the gas leak emerged on her property.

“The septic water would come up and then it would just run, run down the whole driveway. It would run that way, too, because there was so much water,” King said.

King said Nicor Gas employees cracked her septic pipe when replacing the gas line, with the septic water rising after the ground thawed.

“So when they came under the driveway with their machine, it hit that piece of pipe that's over here,” King said while pointing to a broken piece of plastic near the site the repair took place.

King filed a claim with Nicor but the utility said it "was not responsible" for the damages, partially because Nicor “was not given an opportunity to inspect the work area to determine if the damage was a direct result of their work."

After months of back and forth with no progress, King put NBC 5 Responds on the case. We contacted Nicor and a few days later, it changed its tune about the claim. The utility finally agreed to pay King $3,150 to repair her septic line.

“It was just a big mess until NBC got involved. I mean, I don't know what I would do without NBC. You guys made one phone call. They called me the next day. They're sending me a check,” King said.

But what was behind Nicor’s sudden change of heart?

“Until NBC contacted us, the work estimate had not been received,” a statement from Nicor Gas said.

Yet we found that work estimate attached to an e-mail King sent to Nicor back in April. King said the utility never followed up with her about the estimate, and she assumed they had received it.

“I did everything I was told. But everything was, like, denied,” King said.

Nicor didn’t respond to our follow-up questions about what happened to that e-mail.

After several months of dealing with a septic pond in her driveway, King is enjoying her home once again.

“We can sit out here and enjoy the birds and see the nature. And my dog doesn't have to walk in septic. The grandkids don't have to run across septic. All thanks to Channel 5 News,” King said.

If a utility company needs to make repairs on your property, here are some tips:

• When work is being done, have the workers leave paperwork of what was done and any issues that were encountered.  
• If something goes wrong, insist that the workers provide the utility with the report of what happened and follow up within 48-72 hours to ensure that the report was filed. 
• Be sure to put all communication in writing or over email. It’s important to leave a paper trail to track timelines and promises.