Tenant Fights Landlord Over Raw Sewage Flowing Near Homes

By Jeff Todd

MONUMENT, Colo. (CBS4) - Allen Pearson is concerned he's going to get evicted for speak up, but he's not willing to live any longer with raw sewage wafting into his home.

"For about a year I've been dealing with raw sewage underneath my house and I've informed maintenance many times," said Pearson.

He rents a trailer in the Mountain Meadows village in Monument.

"I haven't had any luck getting anywhere from the maintenance man or the landlord. And they've really just not done anything to fix it," Pearson said.

On Thursday, work began to fix the issue. The landlord told CBS 4 there's a sag in the sewage line that gets filled with other residents flushing things like disposable diapers. The clog occurs right outside Pearson's home where there's now an open hole filled with raw sewage.

"I'm kind of in fear for retaliation," Pearson said. "I've been telling everybody from the very beginning, if I make a stand he's going to evict me because he can."

Repair work only started after CBS 4 began looking into this case. The landlord said it could take a few weeks for the sewage line to get replaced. The Monument Sanitation District says it has no authority because the trailer park is private property. El Paso County Public Health visited the site on Thursday to begin its investigation.

Pearson says he just wants the situation to be right, but has a plan to break up his family in case they are evicted.

"I'm not going to stand by and let this continue to go on, it's not right for people like us to continue to live like this," Pearson said.

Jeff Todd joined the CBS4 team in 2011 covering the Western Slope in the Mountain Newsroom. Since 2015 he's been working across the Front Range in the Denver Headquarters. Follow him on Twitter @CBS4Jeff.