City sewer work has turned into nightmare for a Bettendorf woman. Suzon Esser woke up Monday to raw sewage splattered all over her bathroom. She says the city has yet to do much about it and it's not the first time its happened.
"I woke up and walked past the bathroom and was like ‘no not again,'" she tells TV6.
For Esser, this mess isn't a surprise. She's lived here since 2001 and says the same thing happened twice before in 2003 and 2006.
"The first time I was cool," she says,"[Now] I don't have the emotional energy to have to do deal with the fact that I live in obviously 'a premier city.'"
"They have blown raw sewage, again, three times into my house," she says.
Esser says each time it cost up to 400 dollars to repair, but this is by far the worst, estimating almost a thousand dollars in ruined items.
"Raw sewage has been on my walls, on my wooden floor, and all over my books, everything," she says.
Esser has been in contact with the city, but so far no one has fixed the problem.
"In the meantime I have no idea where my son and I are going to sleep," she says.
Bettendorf's Public Information Officer Lauran Haldeman says they are investigating to find out what caused this. She tells TV6 crews were tending to another toilet problem on the same street, flushing out the sewer lines when this happened.
"This has happened three times, I mean coincidental? I don't know," Esser says.
The city says in 2006, the city reimbursed Esser about $350 for repairs, not admitting fault, but instead giving the money "in good faith".
"I cannot believe they can blow raw sewage into someone's house and then act like it's my problem," Esser says.
Meanwhile, she is staying in a hotel with her son on her dime.
"I don't have money for hotels," Esser says, "I am so baffled by the treatment of me, just baffled."
Esser has hired a cleanup crew herself to deal with the mess; they tell her the ruined wood floor may have to go.
No word if the city will pay for repairs this time around or not.
