DISTRICT HEIGHTS, Md. — Neighbors living behind a popular take out restaurant say they are breathing a little easier after a WUSA9 report on the smell of sewage coming from water draining from the restaurant through their neighborhood.
“We shouldn't have to live like this,” Phyllis Wright told WUSA9 back in October. Her home of 25 years sits right behind Hip Hop Fish & Chicken off Marlboro Pike on Delano Lane.
Wright was fed up with what was flowing from the back of the take out restaurant.
“It started with the grease,” Wright recalled.
And that's not all she and her neighbors said they could see, and smell it, running through their neighborhood from the restaurant.
“We could see poop going down the street,” Wright said.
With stains on the street and a constant stench in the air, Wright said she had been trying for years to get someone to do something about it.
“It was just unacceptable. We deserve better,” she said.
Wright called WUSA9 for help and when the restaurant wouldn't answers our questions, we collected a sample and called the county.
The next day, the Prince George's County Health Department opened an investigation and county testing confirmed a damaged grease trap was sending raw sewage through the parking lot and into the street.
Prince George's County says it forced Hip Hop Fish and Chicken to close for eight days while the restaurant fixed the leak.
In a statement to WUSA9 the Prince George’s County Health Department said, in part:
“As a result of this critical violation, the restaurant was closed immediately by the Health Department and required to clean all the affected areas and repair the damaged pipes. On Tuesday, October 17, 2023, the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) oversaw the repairs for the grease trap outlet. The repair to the sewer line was completed on Thursday, October 19, 2023. Once the repairs were completed, the WSSC Notice of Violation was satisfied, and the facility was approved to resume operations. The restaurant was closed from Thursday, October 12 through Thursday, October 19, 2023.”
“I noticed that they working in a parking lot,” Wright said. They're trying to fix things up a little better than what they had before you ran this story.”
And, now?
“A breath of fresh air,” Wright said. With the sewer leak repaired and the runoff dried up, she’s grateful the county finally came through.
“It smells a lot better,” Wright said. “If it wasn't for you running this story, I think right now today we would still be in the same place.”
The Prince George's County Health Department said it stresses to restaurants this is why restaurant owners need to keep up on the maintenance of their "grease interceptors" to keep damage like this from happening.