A 2-year-old girl drowned after falling into a septic tank in New Jersey this week, an autopsy revealed Tuesday. According to many media accounts, the toddler went missing outside a “ramshackle’’ Lakewood, N.J. home where her family lived. Police investigating the missing girl on Monday discovered a 3-foot-wide hole in the yard that led to a septic tank.
A man who rented a room at the house told authorities he was surprised the hole was large enough for the girl to fall through. A neighbor reported that he’d smelled a foul odor around the septic tank for more than a year and wondered if it was broken. It’s inconceivable how a tank can be left open for more than a year, creating a hazard for children who play in the neighborhood.
How many times do we have to read these reports before public education takes hold and we avoid these terrible incidents? As an industry, we need keep telling homeowners about the dangers of failing to properly monitor and maintain septic tanks. Pumping professionals can follow best practices for septic tank maintenance, but the owners of these systems must also be diligent to ensure we’re not hearing about the death of another innocent child in the future.
