Neighbors Fred Caspar and Mary Corson, residents of 38th Street, look at the stagnant water lurking in the gutter in front of their homes in 2023.
Sea Isle City is getting ready to build a drainage system to finally get rid of puddles of slimy, fetid water that have lurked in the gutters of 38th Street for several years.
No one is exactly sure why the stinky water never goes away, although the city believes it is simply groundwater that collects in the gutters on 38th Street between Central and Landis avenues.
The city has hired a contractor to build an underground drainage system to finally solve the problem. The work is expected to get underway soon, the city announced Thursday in its community newsletter.
“The project at 38th Street will include construction of an underground drainage system that will address the chronic problems associated with groundwater there that continually create ponding water along the gutter lines,” Mayor Leonard Desiderio said in an earlier statement explaining the work.
Homeowners on 38th Street, between Central and Landis avenues, have appealed to the city for help in removing the smelly water in front of their houses.
Greenish, oily water heads for the drain on 38th Street.For the last three years, homeowner Fred Caspar, of 137 E. 38th Street, has appeared at City Council meetings to urge city officials to investigate the source of the foul water.
The last time Caspar showed up at a Council meeting, in July 2023, he brought with him a jar of murky, brown water that he collected from the gutter along 38th Street. He held up the jar to show the Council members the stinky liquid.
“It will just sit there,” Caspar said of the water in a 2023 interview. “If there’s no breeze, it’s a little skunky smelling."
In his statement, Desiderio thanked the homeowners for their patience while the city was making preparations for the drainage project.
The neighbors have said the source of the water has remained a mystery. One unsubstantiated rumor going around the neighborhood is that there may be abandoned railroad tracks buried underneath this section of 38th Street, causing the water to percolate up on the road.
In addition to its nauseating green tint, the water also has an oily sheen and a stinky odor that suggests it has an unpleasant origin somewhere in Sea Isle.
The drainage work for 38th Street is part of a larger $656,129 contract that will also include road construction on 58th Street from Landis to Central, 59th Street from Sounds Avenue to Central and Sounds Avenue from 59th Street to the Dealy Field kayak launch site and hockey rink.
The fetid water runs along the gutter and curbs on the block of 38th Street between Central and Landis avenues.
