BELEN, N.M. – After thousands of people saw a video online of a septic truck dumping something into a ditch in Belen, KOB 4 spoke with the septic service company Sunday.

Frank’s Septic Service says they would never dump sewage like that.

In 2021, heavy rain led to a canal breach and a flood emergency. So, the city hires companies – like Frank’s Septic Service – to take rainwater somewhere where it won’t cause problems to avoid flooding.

“We are discharging flood water into the ditch in Belen. Every time it rains there are some areas in Belen that have poor drainage systems in place, so water collects,” said Daniel Romero, vice president of Frank’s Septic Service.“It covers the roads. It has the potential danger of going into people’s homes, and the City of Belen hires us to pump out these streets.”

Company reps say it’s unfortunate that so many people are seeing the video and incorrectly assuming the worst.

Lots of people have left nasty comments about the company, and the company reps say it’s happened before.

Over the years, people post videos, and false rumors spread.

“We would never dump sewage into the drainage system. That’s completely false,” said Romero.

The city and the mayor posted on social media, explaining it’s all just rainwater.

Water is a major concern in Belen, so KOB 4 spoke with one woman who says sewage getting into drainage areas would be a major concern.

“Is that going to get into my well water? Is it going to filter down and affect my well water?” said a Belen resident. “It’s a big impact.”

For farmers and animals too. Belen has certainly had water problems from losing water, to outages.