Amid continued sewage problems in Dunklin County, leaders urge alternative solutions

DUNKLIN COUNTY, Mo. (KFVS) – Sewer problems in Dunklin County, Missouri continue and have become so bad that sewer district management says they need to do “whatever it takes.”

They delivered the news at a public meeting held Monday evening in Malden.

“I’m not going to regulate anything now, it’s up to someone else to regulate it, some government agency,” said Malden Mayor Denton Kooyman. “It’s never going to be ours.”

One option many of these residents are considering is installing a septic tank at their own expense. This is a smaller waste management system that you can dig underground in your own garden.

Although there are regulations related to this, sewer district authorities say they will not enforce them.

“Legally, I can’t order them to do it, but I would do it myself,” Kooyman said.

Kooyman runs the sewer district under court order. He says to install a septic system in Missouri, you must have three acres or more of land, and if there is an active sewer system, you cannot have one.

“I was as honest as I could be and said that if I lived there, I would also break the law and pay a fine later because I wanted my sewage system fixed,” he said.

If you have a septic tank that exceeds these regulations, you could face a fine. But since Dunklin County Sewer District customers are dealing with sewage in their homes and yards, as well as the stench that comes with it, they say there isn’t much more they can do.

At the meeting on Monday evening, many customers gathered to talk about their problems.

“We set up about 150 chairs, almost all of them were occupied, and people were standing around the edges,” Kooyman said.

“There were a lot of people here,” said customer Jane Strickland.

Strickland attended the meeting because she was having a lot of problems with her sewer system.

“The sewage in the bathtub is leaking into the kitchen sinks,” she said.

Strickland and her husband are considering a septic tank option.

“I found out about the fine and we called every government agency we knew of, but none of them could tell us how much the fine was,” she explained.

Agencies that won’t give her answers are something she’s gotten used to. She and other customers have been calling multiple companies endlessly about plumbing issues.

“Call this number, call this number, call this number, call this number, and we’ll repeat this to every government agency there is,” Strickland said. “And you’d think that even in an election year, someone would care.”

She just wants someone to take her problems seriously.

“I think it’s bad,” Strickland said. “It’s our own fault — we’re caught between a rock and a hard place.”

I contacted the Missouri Department of Natural Resources about the regulations and possible fines for septic tanks. A spokesperson said it’s a big, complex issue and they’re working to get me more details.

A court hearing regarding the Dunklin Co. Sewer District property is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday.