NATCHEZ — In the last week, Carolyn Washington has been afraid she would wake up in the morning to find sewage water beneath her feet.

Water from Cedar Lane’s sewage lagoon backed up into the house of Washington’s neighbor’s Tuesday night.

And the whole neighborhood has been watching the water gather at the development’s culdesac for a few weeks, and the sight, smell and existence of the hazardous waste has everyone worrying about their health.

“I started noticing (the sewage backup) about a couple of weeks ago,” Washington said. “This has been like this a for a month.”

After weeks of contacting county officials to see who is in charge of the lagoon, Washington said she filed a complaint with Supervisor Darryl Grennel who asked the Department of Environmental Quality to check the lagoon.

“I’m afraid if they don’t get it fixed soon enough, there might be more cracks (in the road,)” Washington said. “If it takes a few days to fix, we’re going to have to move until it’s fixed.”

While Washington said she feared the lives of her neighbors could be disrupted if something isn’t done about the problem, her neighbor, Yolanda White, has already had to deal with problems caused by the sewage backup.

“My toilet backed up and flooded seven rooms in my house — three kids rooms, the living room, the dining room, kitchen and bathroom,” White said. “They’re pulling up my carpet now.”

The sewage leak is directly in front of White’s house and in recent days, she and her neighbors said the stench has become unbearable.

It was the presence of maggots forming in the water that spurred Washington to take serious steps to have the problem acknowledged.

“I started calling around last Thursday, but didn’t know there were maggots in the street,” Washington said.

Washington and White’s neighbor, Geraldine Floyd said even though she lives five houses down from White and the waste water, she has been experiencing problems with her home’s plumbing as well.

“We don’t live in this culdesac, but we can be affected by this overflow,” Floyd said.

Floyd, who has lived on Cedar Lane for approximately 20 years, said this is the first time she’s ever seen sewage leak into the road.

A representative from the DEQ said the responsibility and circumstances surrounding the lagoon and its present state are part of an ongoing investigation.

No comments are being made at this time.

Washington and White said they called landowner John Seago, a resident of Baton Rouge, who owns the land around Cedar Lane.

Some residents agree its Seago’s responsibility to take care of the sewage issue, but so far, conversations have been less than friendly the neighbors said.

“He’s denying owning the pipes,” White said. “My call wasn’t important to him. He had another call on the line.

“I don’t think we have any responsibility for this as home owners.”

While residents of Cedar Lane have never paid sewage expenses, Washington, White and Floyd said they would gladly pay to ensure clean water for their families.

However, sewage payments have never been something Cedar Lane residents have had to worry about.

“It’s not in the covenant. They didn’t stress it when I moved here (19 years ago,)” Floyd said.

After several attempts, Seago could not be reached for comment.