A LOOK AT SOME OF THE LIQUID POO FLOWING ONTO COLQUITT ST. IN MONTROSE 
A reader wants to be sure Swamplot readers are alerted — as city inspectors, the HPD’s environmental division, and the property manager have already been, the reader says — to the “recurring” problem of raw sewage flowing out from the Takara-So Apartments at 1919 W. Main St. and into neighboring storm drains. The photo at left, taken on Monday, shows the sewage (“you can smell it”) along Colquitt St., pausing for a bit of sun on its way to lower-lying bayous and waterways. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Swamplot inbox
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I guess shit happens at the Takara Poo.
This photo is really shitty evidence.
That’s why these older properties need to be redeveloped.
Thanks Obama!!
There goes the neighborhood.
That is no bueno para caca.
This is just plain gross. So nasty that this happens in Houston. I used to live in this area and i thought it smelled like poo back then (1985). One time I was out there in the street and a man stopped and asked me “May is see your b-hole”? Freaked me out.
Later
@Progress: Keep the converted duplexes/triplexes/fourplexes in historical homes, and redevelop the slummy 60’s/70’s complexes.
Miles Davis of pee-filled apartment complexes. @HappyGilmore
@Christian problems similar to this are pretty common in older houses as well if they weren’t properly updated. Any property with an original Drum Trap has a good chance of having sewage back up through their lines into their bathtubs… It’s illegal in new construction, but its allowed in old properties under grandfather provisions. Not sure where the line is drawn requiring it to be fixed (pulling a permit?).
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Before I knew more about plumbing I was renting somewhere where we had awful smells of sewer gas in the bathroom. The landlord blamed it on the city and said there was nothing he could do about it. This was a newer construction. I discovered later that the landlord was a total scumbag, and had tons of code violation citings against him. So you can even have issues like this in new constructions depending on how you manage your properties.
Just part of the neighborhood’s charm.
Sewage smell seems to waft through Midtown / 4th ward constantly . . . we’ve just taken to calling it “that Houston stank!”
Nice to see that absolutely nothing has changed since I moved away from that street after putting up with Takara So shit for over 23 years. And yes, I complained to the city regularly about that and the Foteh properties. And the condition of the street. To no avail.
I hope that shit gets cleaned up.
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If there’s one complaint I have about Houstonians it’s they we tend to freak out over silly things: out of scale buildings, historic preservation, but we don’t get nearly mad enough about things like raw sewage leaking into our streets. Just once I’d like a big, widely reported and talked about, lawsuit against a slum lord with a horrible building and a ton of code violations. These lawsuits happen – but they never make the news, and everyone’s response seems to be to shrug and say “myeh, widdaryougonnado.”
That’s why they call us the “Dirty South”.
Illegal dumping of the worst kind.
Crazy that this could happen and not get fixed quickly. We bought a place in the loop (south, by 288) that likely had this going on forever. But right after we bought it some Houston apartment police people came by and told us to fix at once or face $100k/day fines (not sure why they never came out before we bought it. Shrug).
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Not only did we have to fix the lines (which we would have done anyway) but we had to call a special company to come out and remediate the problem (suck out the spill into the storm drains). We even had to show them receipts from one of a few approved contractors after it was done.
Anyway. It was a pretty serious deal. Add normally enforcement of this style of stuff in Montrose is much more serious. I’m sure this will get cleaned soon.