WARREN — A smelly sewage problem has left some Mineral Ridge residents, including Carol Renner of Morris Street, dealing with flooded basements and costly repairs after heavy rains overwhelmed the local sewer system.

At Wednesday’s Trumbull County commissioners meeting, officials proposed exploring grants and a countywide program to fix the issue, though no immediate solution was finalized.

Renner told commissioners that her finished basement was ruined by sewage backup during a recent storm, costing her and her husband thousands of dollars to clean up.

“It’s disgusting,” she said. “We’ve never had this problem before, and now our house is worthless. Who’s going to buy it with this issue?”

The problem, explained Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer Gary Newbrough, comes from old home designs in Mineral Ridge and other areas like Valley View and Champion.

In the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, many houses were built with footer drains connected to sanitary sewers instead of storm drains. During heavy rain, these sewers overflow, sending sewage into homes at the bottom of hills, like Renner’s.

“It’s a legacy problem,” Newbrough said. “We need a countywide program to disconnect these drains and redirect rainwater to storm drains.”

He suggested that installing backflow preventers, which stop sewage from entering homes, could be a temporary fix for residents like Renner. However, these devices cost up to $3,400 and prevent homeowners from using water or toilets during heavy rain.

Commissioners Tony Bernard, Rick Hernandez and Denny Malloy said they were unaware of the issue until Renner spoke up. They expressed sympathy but noted that fixing the problem countywide could cost millions.

“We recognize the problem, but funding is a challenge,” Bernard said.

Newbrough proposed seeking grants from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help cover costs. He also suggested inspecting homes to identify which ones have improper drain connections, starting with “hot spots” like Mineral Ridge. Another idea was creating a storm drainage district to raise money for repairs, similar to a program in Mahoning County.

Julie Green from the county’s planning commission, who attended the meeting, discussed the challenges of funding these legacy issues.

“We work closely with all of our county agencies and officials to cover all of those things,” Green said. “These are legacy problems, similar to the uncertain areas of concerns that we’re just spending all of our time trying to figure out how to pay for them. There’s only so many grant funds that can go around to address these issues.”

She added that another hurdle is limited staff at the Trumbull County Combined Health District for evaluations, and she expressed pessimism about upcoming federal or state funding, noting potential cuts to prioritize services for the county’s 60,000 senior citizens.

Green also suggested exploring a combined storm drainage district to generate revenue by assessing homeowners in hot spots. This could fund consultants for quicker identification of problems, much like assessments for 911 services.

“It’s more money, but it will potentially be a faster way,” she said, referencing similar setups in Mahoning County.

Renner, frustrated, pointed out that the county has known about the issue for years, but hasn’t acted.

“This shouldn’t have happened,” she said. “Our property value is dropping and we’re afraid to invest more money in our home.”

Commissioners urged Newbrough to work with grant experts and the county’s planning commission to explore solutions, including Green’s ideas. They also encouraged residents like Renner to consider backflow preventers as a short-term fix. However, with limited staff and funding, a full solution could take months, or even years, to implement.

“We’re sorry you’re going through this,” Hernandez told Renner. “We’ll look into it, but it’s going to take time.”