Dealing with sewage backup or a black water spill polluting your home is one of the most stressful things a home owner can deal with. Aside from flooding your home with a watery tar-like substance that resembles a “pseudo La Brea Tar Pits”, the bacteria it carries can seep into your home making it hazardous for human health. And let’s face it, no wooly mammoth would be caught dead wading too close to a raw sewage pit, so why should you? By understanding how sewage backup occurs, the dangers it poses and how you can protect your home from its foulness, you can leave the fecal tar pits to devastate another home and not yours!

What is Sewage?

Well, if sewage was a nutrient enriched luxurious mud that makes skin look youthful, nobody would run from it. But unfortunately sewage is untreated waste water or black water that contains human urine and feces, as well as a plethora of other contaminants. Sometimes tampons and other accoutrement of female hygienic products make their way into sewage, so it is definitely a nasty stew that you don’t want to have anything to do with. When a sewage backup emergency strikes black water can overflow into the home, or burst from pipes in the ground and corrupt your lawn.

What Dangers Does Sewage Pose?

Whenever there is a sewage spill, all people and pets should evacuate the area. In fact a British news source recently published an article on a sewage spill that occurred on a popular public footpath that sent leisure strollers running in opposite directions in the name of good health.

Exposure to sewage not only unites people with viruses and bacteria, an individual may develop multiple sicknesses that include gastroenteritis—a horrid illness that causes, ironically, diarrhea. It is also common for sufferers to have violent vomiting spells and abdominal cramping. Weil’s disease is another typical and sometimes fatal phenomenon that has flu-like symptoms and it can cause kidney and liver damage. Even asthma can be developed by breathing in the fecal fumes of a sewage spill.

Can I Clean a Sewage Spill Myself?

If you ever have sewage backup that can’t be resolved with a plunger, call a professional sewage backup company to your home or business immediately. You never know when a spill could occur, and you never want to try to remediate the problem on your own. Professionals have HAZMAT suits to act as barriers protecting themselves against the sewage, and they have industrial strength cleaning chemicals that are not available to the general public. The pros also have the training to clean, remove all contaminants and thoroughly dry the home. When amateurs try this they almost always fail to remove all the toxins and moisture which can cause a mold spore population to explode in the home, as well as human illness. Finally, the professionals have an industry-leading drying system that restores your home to its sanitary, previous condition.

The last thing you want is a noxious, repugnant fecal tar pit in your home. Make sure you only flush appropriate paper, have your pipes inspected, and treat your toilet with respect because it can turn on you like an angry porcelain T-Rex spilling out black tar if you provoke it with a pointy dagger of neglect.