MULBERRY, Fla. -- A stinky mess had to be cleaned up at a Polk County elementary school Friday.
- Sewage backup problems at Purcell Elementary School
- Authorities looking into who tampered with pump
- Company hopes to have sewer line fixed, replaced next week
Purcell Elementary School students arrived to class only to find backed up sewage in their school's courtyard, cafeteria and kitchen.
Parents like Erick Aburto said they were notified of the issue.
"It is very concerning. I mean, it's sewage," he said. "It's so near the kids, but from what I hear from the school, they're saying nobody was hurt, that none of the students were exposed to it. So that's good news on our side."
The district said it had an environmental clean-up company on site to treat and clean the affected areas.
The Hinterland Group Inc. is replacing sewer lines across the city of Mulberry.
They've been working on the line near Purcell Elementary since August.
"We had an actual pump shutdown due to someone tampering with them, and it caused a back up into the school. The sewer overflowed," explained Justin Harvey, the job superintendent for the Hinterland Group, Inc.
Harvey said the company bought students pizza for lunch and is working with authorities to figure out who turned off their pumps in the middle of the night.
"A little concerned now, but we're taking every precaution we can now to keep that from happening as far as locking up everything and making sure they can't tamper with it anymore," Harvey said.
This is the second issue relating to sewage overflowing into Purcell Elementary since the project began. On Aug. 21, Mulberry Utilities Director John Wright reported to the Department of Environmental Protection a 500 gallon overflow.
The company hopes to have the sewer line near the school fixed and replaced sometime next week.