The Daily Tar Heel
Printing news. Raising hell. Since 1893.
Thursday, March 28, 2024 Newsletters Latest print issue

We keep you informed.

Help us keep going. Donate Today.
The Daily Tar Heel

Rogers Road homes to get public water, sewer access

6861_0822_rogersroad_russellf.jpg
Student Body President Mary Cooper discusses her platform in her office in the Student Union.

David Caldwell Jr. has been waiting for his local government to fulfill its promise of access to public water and sewer lines for nearly three decades.

And though he said the struggle has been a long one, he will finally have access to the services he has fought for.

Caldwell is one of seven residents in the Rogers Road community who are being connected to public water or sewer lines.

Workers have begun to install a feeder line that will connect his home to the public sewage system, a project that will be completed in about a month.

In 1972, Chapel Hill Mayor Howard Lee met with Caldwell’s family and neighbors in his parents’ backyard to discuss the creation of the Orange County landfill on Eubanks Road.

In exchange, local governments promised the historically black, low-income neighborhood sidewalks, street lights, public transit and access to public water and sewer lines.

But until now, many of the promises have not been kept.

“It’s motivation just to see something done right, how it’s supposed to be,” said Caldwell, who is the Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association project manager.

Caldwell’s mother will also receive sewer access, which he says has been especially significant to her since the agreement was signed in her backyard.

“This is one of the things that she always wanted, along with several of our other senior citizens, always saying, ‘I just want to see it before I die,’” Caldwell said.

The N.C. Department of Commerce approved a community development block grant in January to connect homes in the Rogers Road neighborhood to existing water and sewer lines, said Tara Fikes, the director of the Orange County housing, human rights and community development department.

The residents were chosen based on income eligibility and the distance of their houses from available water and sewer lines, she said.

The residents with access to public water and sewer lines will no longer have to rely on backyard wells and septic tanks.

A survey by the Orange County Health Department last year showed that nine of 11 wells in the Rogers Road community are contaminated and do not meet Environmental Protection Agency standards.

“It was relieving knowing that we could get some families off of contaminated well water,” said Reverend Robert Campbell, co-chairman of the Rogers-Eubanks Coalition to End Environmental Racism.

“It’s not good that people are cooking, bathing and drinking contaminated water regardless of what level of contamination it is.”

Some homes have been connected to public water lines in the past, but only one or two houses are usually hooked up at a time, Caldwell said. In some cases, residents’ concern about expensive water bills have prevented them from hooking up to the lines, he said.

But more often people live too far from the existing infrastructure to connect and haven’t been given the option, Caldwell added.

Campbell said the Rogers-Eubanks Neighborhood Association still wants to connect about 69 more homes in the community to public water and sewer lines. The community is working to find more public and private funding, he said.

“We think more things can get done,” he said. “We want to keep pushing until we get the more.”

Caldwell agreed.

To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.

“It’s just a small victory in a large war.”

Contact the City Editor at city@dailytarheel.com

Special Print Edition
The Daily Tar Heel's Collaborative Mental Health Edition