HOPKINS, S.C. — Helen Taylor and her neighbors along Martin Luther King Boulevard in Hopkins have had a stinky week.
Her dilemma started on Friday, March 8, when she said she saw a waste truck owned by NewSouth Waste dumping porta potty remains down Terrapin Woods Road, one of the dirt roads in the area. She was curious about the truck after smelling a foul odor around her home.
"We followed the truck to see where it was going, and they went to another house to dump. I confronted the driver at the time, and he said something about 'the cap came off,'" she said.
On Thursday, March 14, she said her nephew was walking down Ladson Loop, another dirt road, and noticed female hygiene products and toilet paper along the street.
"We drink from well water, and we know that eventually this was going to get in our water, so that's when we called for help," Taylor said.
News19 visited the scene and left a message with NewSouth Waste, which was not returned. On Thursday, employees were back on the scene in Hopkins, removing waste with shovels and a backhoe. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) didn't respond to additional information requests. Now, Taylor said she fears the incident may impact her water.
"The smell is here, but you just can't clean something like that by scraping the top of it off because it seeped down into the ground. They should compensate the people in the community for what they have done, as well as pay whatever it takes to clean it up," Taylor said.
News19 contacted NewSouth for a formal statement but did not receive a response. Taylor said she hopes this will raise awareness of how some rural roads are treated.
"If there's any other places in the area that notice this in their area, just look for it. You'll see the toilet tissue, the feminine products from females," she said. "Look and see what it is, and if it is, we would like you to come forward so you could see what, well, everybody can see what's done in the rural communities."
Contact WLTX On Your Side at 803-695-3730.