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Schalls visit Lowndes County to see BBUWP progress

For the past three years, Doug and Mary Beth Schall travel down to Lowndes County from Mazomanie, Wisconsin. The couple, supporters of the Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Program (BBUWP), make the journey to give an annual donation and see the work their dollars help to fund.

“I read a book, and it was called ‘Waste’ by Catherine Coleman Flowers,” Mary Beth said. “Back in Wisconsin, I tried to get involved with a group of Black women… trying to improve health care. But they didn’t seem to want me. So, I said I’m going to find someone who does.”

After reading Flowers’ book, the Schalls eventually found Sherry Bradley and learned about the efforts of the BBUWP.

“The first year, I came down by myself to see what we could do,” Mary Beth explained. “The best way we could help was to [donate] funds. It’s gotten much more expensive to fund a septic system.”

The Schalls learned about septic systems from Bradley, who also showed them the conditions under which some Lowndes County residents lived, with raw sewage on the ground or backing up into their homes.

“Both of us are retired Navy; she’s a Navy nurse and I’m a Navy doctor,” Doug said. “We’ve got some free time now and are trying to help out the community. We saw this as a way that we can donate money but actually see what’s going on. We see [our money] is helping people, versus if you donate something and who knows where it goes.

“Working with Sherry, being right up front, we go out to the houses, we meet the people, and we see [workers] digging the ground and laying pipes. It’s nice to see the money we donate going into these causes.”

Bradley said BBUWP welcomes visitors like the Schalls and the opportunity to help them see their donations at work.

“Our main goal is to install septic tank systems for those that need them in Lowndes County,” Bradley said as she showed the Schalls an early picture from the effort, where one resident lived with sewage spilling onto the ground in her back yard.

“This is her back yard,” Bradley told them. “I see that a lot, but it shocked me at first.

“When you look at the poverty level here, and you look at the type of soil that’s hard to deal with, that doesn’t absorb water, you get sewage on the ground. You get straight pipes. People cannot afford septic tank systems.”

Bradley and BBUWP president Perman Hardy described their work to the Schalls, outlining the costs involved in solving Lowndes County’s wastewater disposal crisis.

“One person just got a $39,000 system,” Bradley said. “That included removal of trees, removal of old trucks. There were two homes on the property. These are some of the problems that we’ve overcome.”

Currently, BBUWP is training a team to act as a community service corp.

“We’re training high school students,” Bradley said. “We’re training elementary kids, letting them learn about septic tank systems, starting them young and [later] that’s why now we can do our own plumbing section. We hired our own plumber, and we’re going to hire the high school kids.”

Operating from their newly opened office in Hayneville, Bradley said BBUWP has little overhead.

“I want y’all to know the funding is put to good use,” she told the Schalls.