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For three years, BBUWP has partnered with IWSH, the International Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Foundation and global plumbing manufacturer Lixil, to train and employ high school students to conduct the surveys necessary to assess homeowner plumbing and sewage disposal needs. The partnership has allowed organizers to repair plumbing inside homes so that newly installed septic systems can operate properly.

"It’s estimated about 30% of the county’s population lives below the poverty line and without access to clean water.

The Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Program, or BBUWP, was launched by Sherry Bradley, the Alabama Department of Public Health Bureau of Environmental Services Director.

Volunteer plumbers, electricians, and other workers will gather to kick off their work project at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Lowndes County Courthouse in Hayneville. These volunteers are associated with a group which has come from as far away as New York, Ohio and Ireland, as well as Birmingham and Montgomery, to assist."

"Alabama Department of Public Health official Sherry Bradley remembers visiting a local homeowner who was installing straight pipes and trying to convince the resident not to do so. “I’ll never forget it, she said, ‘Well, what are we to do? The city hasn’t hooked us up. What are we to do?’” Bradley recalled.

“That really tugged at my heart. I’m an advocate now. We’re going to get this thing right,” Bradley says. She founded the BBUWP to increase proper wastewater disposal resources, installing and repairing on-site wastewater systems with the help of partners and donors."

"The Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Program (BBUWP) will provide onsite sewage treatment and disposal systems to an estimated 175 homes in the unincorporated areas of the Black Belt that currently have no proper wastewater disposal, poor soil conditions, and economic hardship; to include, homes with substandard onsite systems that are not working properly. This pilot project, to show how individual onsite systems can be managed, is funded by the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Lixil Americas, and the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO). Lixil Americas is donating low flow fixtures for the project which will then be installed plumbers provided free of charge by IAPMO."

Lowndes County, Alabama — A hidden crisis is threatening the lives of the most vulnerable communities in the country. Many are living without things that most take for granted: running water, indoor plumbing and sanitation. 

LOWNDES COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA) - Two women are on a mission to bring better sewage infrastructure to Lowndes County families in need.

For the last five years, Sherry Bradley and Perman Hardy have been on the ground in the most rural areas of the county, helping install new septic tanks for residents. More than half of the residents in the county have inefficient sewer systems.