Rural Bradley County residents frustrated by ongoing 'sewage' dumping in creek

BRADLEY COUNTY, Tenn. — A small backroad in rural Bradley County is still causing frustration for some residents.

We first told you about tires and chemical dumping happening in the area back in November.

Since then, some things have changed, but not everything.

The homeowners who are accused of the dumping are now set to appear in court over the trash left behind.

“I don’t appreciate the neighbors coming by and just assuming, they shouldn’t assume anything.”

Back in November when we came to Christine Stewart’s home on Sim Goodwin Road, tires were out in the road blocking neighbors from being able to drive through.

When we checked back in on Friday, the tires are gone.

However, neighbors tell us they still have a problem with the owners of this home, claiming that they are dumping what the Tennessee Department of Conservation calls sewage buckets in the creek.

Video from a neighbor shows Christine Stewart’s husband dumping a bucket filled with brown liquids by the creek:

So we asked Stewart if it was sewage waste in that bucket that’s being dumped in this creek on a regular basis.

“It’s dirty mop water, okay? Also, I put, like, onions and stuff like that in it, okay? Yeah, we have an outhouse behind our house. It’s not an outhouse, it’s a porta potty, okay?”

We then brought up photos from a citation Stewart received from TDOC back in September of 2024.

“As far as that picture of that stuff, I don’t know what that was. That was a picture of, oh, a bucket and a dirty napkin.”

An environmentalist whose not affiliated with this case tells us that it doesn’t matter whether its sewage or “dirty mop water” that’s going in the creek, both are toxic to the public waterways.

“So raw sewage and gray water, which is just household water, when it’s being illegally dumped it’s classified as an illicit discharge.”

Brooke Fleeman, director of operations at Waterways, says that E. coli can transfer to the water.

“The state and federal entities will say that that waterway is not supporting for recreation, so it becomes a human health danger as well, just for swimming, fishing and other types of recreation.”

But Stewart tells us this is beyond her control because her water has been shut off.

“We’re having to go to court. We go to court over this stuff. And see, I didn’t do none of it. And I feel like I’m getting the short end of the stick.”