Call Kurtis: Traffic Light Sending Raw Sewage Into My Yard

ORANGEVALE (CBS13) — Toilet paper and raw sewage is what remains after the latest cleanup of Brian Lee's corner lot.

"It's not sanitary to have the sewage," said Lee.

Lee claims his Orangevale home has had sewage backups in the yard at least twice a year since he bought the place nine years ago. Now he says it's happening twice a month forcing him to pay plumbers thousands.

Lee's latest plumber, Legacy Plumbing feed a camera down the sewer line and they claim to have found the problem. "You can see where they put the copper rod through the middle of the sewer line," said Plumber Kermit Chapman.

Chapman says it's a grounding rod tied to a traffic light.

Lee contacted the county of Sacramento but he says no one from the County Transportation Division will fix it. "Everyone points the finger at everyone else" and "in the meantime my sewer keeps backing up," said Lee.

The traffic light that is causing Lee's headache may have been installed more than a decade ago. However, after Lee's plumber found what might be the cause, he filed a claim with the county.

So how long do you have to file a claim?

"Should he have known immediately? I don't think so.," said Bill Kershaw Consumer Attorney. Kershaw says by law after you realize the government caused a problem you have six months to file a claim.

"When you're flushing your toilet it's pretty hard to know that it's that light out there that's got a copper rod going down into your sewer that's causing this problem, said Kershaw."

We reached out to Sacramento County and Lee instantly got an email from the Department of Transportation apologizing saying "we hope to have it repaired in 3 weeks or so."

Three weeks later when a crew hired by the county came to look at the sewer, sure enough, there is a rod right through the pipe with roots growing in through the cracks and plugging the pipe.

Hopefully, Lee's days of raw sewage in his yard are now over and excessive plumbing bills gone.

Lee is grateful that the problem was solved "I'm glad that you guys were able to help out," said Lee.

The Sacramento County cut Lee a check for a thousand bucks the full amount of his claim, which covered his most recent plumbing bills.

The county has since confirmed that the grounding rod installed back in 2003 tied to a street light electrical box caused the problem.