Neighbour's septic system spills into other yards, homeowner says
A woman who owns a home on Lewis Lake in East Uniacke, N.S., is taking a neighbour to court over claims sewage has been leaking onto her property, and into the lake, since 2010.
That's the same year a new septic system was installed by her next-door neighbour.
"That year I noticed when I was doing some gardening in my yard there was all this water everywhere," said Kathy Symington, who bought her home on Woodland Park Drive 24 years ago. "Eventually I started putting the pieces together, because I was smelling the septic and I was seeing erosion in my yard."
Swamp of dying trees
Symington said when the new septic system was put in, loads of sand spilled across her property line and she claims the system sits too close to her lot.
She said wooden logs that were put in place to support the septic system on her side often have slimy liquid spewing through them.
Her property now looks like a swamp and many of her trees are dead or dying.
She said a blaze tree — a tree with orange paint on it to mark property lines — was cut down by her neighbour.
Symington is no longer living in her home because she feels it is a health risk.
"I decided I'm leaving, I'm not staying here. What if my daughter gets sick? So I left."
Nova Scotia's Environment Department is very familiar with Symington's case. Over eight years she has been in contact with several ministers.
Rankin says 'no risk' to health
"They investigated twice and it showed that there was no impact and no risk to human health or the environment around the area," said Iain Rankin, Nova Scotia's current environment minister.
Rankin said an independent, third-party investigator was used. The department didn't tell CBC who that investigator was.
Symington calls those investigations "a joke." She claims they were not thorough.
"They walked through my yard, looked at all the black in my yard and did a sniff test down to the ground and said, 'That's manganese, that's good for your yard'."
Symington said she has never seen any test results from those investigations and that no samples were ever taken from her property.
In August 2015 she took water samples from her yard to the Capital Health Environmental Services lab in Halifax.
"They called me and told me that I had a very serious environmental issue in my yard," said Symington.
She hired CBCL Limited to investigate. On Dec. 15, 2015, one of their investigators witnessed seepage coming through the logs and running in the direction of Symington's property, which slopes down to Lewis Lake.
The lake has more than 200 homes on it. Elizabeth Hicks has lived on Lewis Lake for four decades and is worried about any pollution getting into the water.
Neighbour not talking
"This is concerning because the lake is the biggest reason why I live here," said Hicks. "We swim in it and I know a lot of people take their water from it, so it's important we look after the health of the lake."
Symington invited Rankin to visit her property, and her neighbour's, so he can see it for himself. She said she has not heard from him.
Symington, who has collected hundreds of pictures and documents over the last eight years, has hired a lawyer and is moving forward with a lawsuit against her neighbour.
CBC News knocked on the neighbour's door, left phone messages, and left a business card at the house, but has not heard from the owner.
