Wish I had had the presence of mind to grab my phone and take a video, but during crises, I’m typically too irrational, illogical, and ill-witted to react quickly. A video would have captured everything so much clearer than what I’m about to recount here. My descriptions simply can’t do the event justice.
The Carrollton, TX weather was warm and sunny. We had returned from our morning routine of working out at Anytime Fitness, eating breakfast at one of our go-to breakfast spots, and enjoying a coffee at what we locally refer to as “our usual” Starbucks. Next on my to-do list was emptying the black and gray water tanks; something I’ve done nearly 600 times over the past six years. In other words, I could do it in my sleep.
I started by following the rigid routine I’ve developed over time: Step 1 – turn on the water hose to the “black water” tank; and step 2 – open the drain valve for that tank. The water hose sprays into the tank in a way that helps clean and rinse it while it empties. Since the drain valve is open, I can accomplish other things worry-free, so I joined MFI at the dinner table inside Arthur and promptly became engrossed in something else.
Suddenly, we both were startled by a strange banging/popping noise from outside and above us. It sounded as if a branch had fallen on the roof. I nonchalantly got up and opened the door to see if that were the case. I immediately screamed, “God damn it” as a waterfall of stinking sewage was cascading off the roof and pooling in the gravel between Arthur and Sid II. Baffled but reacting to instincts, I ran to the outside faucet, shut off the water and then checked the drain valves. Instead of having opened the “black water” tank valve, I had blindly opened the “gray water” valve. Because the “black water” tank valve was still closed, a mix of water and sewage had filled the tank, moved up and overflowed the vent pipe, and collected on the roof until the waterfall became the path of least resistance.
I was furious as I stomped around swearing at my incredible stupidity and being faced with the smelly clean up. We dreaded opening the door to the bathroom, but fortunately (if such a catastrophe can even have a good outcome), a relatively small amount of sewage had annointed the bathroom counter, cabinets, and floor. Once the roof was flooded, sewage leaked through the overhead bathroom vent until the waterfall began draining the roof. MFI was kind enough to tackle the inside clean up (my hero again), while I took on the outside mess. As you may imagine, what made clean up so disgusting was the medium involved. At least the solids had remained in the tank. Ewwwww!
MFI spent an hour cleaning and sanitzing the bathroom. I spent two hours sopping up the sewage on the roof before cleaning the roof and washing the impacted exterior of Arthur. We collected all the contaminated paper towels and rags in a plastic garbage bag and took it to the park trash dumpsters straight away. I did nothing with the sewage on the ground beyond letting it soaked in. Surprisingly, the odor only lasted several days.
In defense of my stupidity, the drain valves for each of the black and gray tanks are close to each other on opposite sides of the single, common drain line. Nevertheless, I have a renewed step of double and triple checking the configuration of the valves before moving between the steps of my routine. Plus, I no longer take issue when MFI questions me on where I am in the tank draining/rinsing/filling process and whether my valves are configured properly. I immediately go verify that all is in order.
