CINCINNATI — The Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati is all hands on deck as crews prepare for heavy rain over the next few days. They will respond to backups, investigate flooded basements and monitor rainfall and sewer system sensors to hopefully prevent overflows.
"The amount of rainfall that is predicted is anticipated to impact our system. How much is very hard to predict," said MSD director Diana Christy. "You’re going to see flash flooding … with events like this because it’s just too much water for any system, even the newer systems, to manage."
At least 12 crews are on call and ready to investigate basement flooding in homes across Hamilton County, and will respond 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Christy said.
"We ask that a homeowner who has any water in their basement, whether they know what happened or not, whether it’s a sewer backup or just water coming from somewhere, that they call and report it to us immediately," Christy said.
The sewer backup program has operated since January 2004 and is required under a court-ordered consent decree. Like many older cities, much of the Cincinnati area has combined sewers that carry both sewage and rainwater in the same pipes. Some of the oldest pipes are made of brick or wood and are more than 100 years old.
The program handles, on average, 3,000 to 6,000 reports of potential sewer backups each year, but the past two years have been drier, so they received far fewer reports.
"By and large, we’re getting calls from people who typically live in older neighborhoods with combined systems," said Matthew Fitzsimmons, senior supervising attorney with Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati, who oversees the sewer backup program as ombudsman and reports to a federal judge.
If a combined sewer gets filled with too much water during a storm, its flow can be pushed backwards in the public sewer system and back into homes and buildings.
"Most of the time it’s going to be in the basement, through a floor drain … that’s usually the lowest point in the house and that’s where the first signs of trouble are going to be seen," Fitzsimmons said.
A homeowner must report a flooded basement to MSD within 48 hours of discovery to be eligible for reimbursement for damaged property.
"Having water in your basement does not necessarily mean that you have an SBU event that you can get compensation for," Fitzsimmons said. "But calling MSD is the important thing because they will come out and investigate and determine if there was in fact a backup in your neighborhood or on your street or at your property."
Oftentimes, homeowners don’t know why their basements flood. If a public sewer backup is to blame, water will rise rapidly and then retreat relatively quickly.
"It can be something relatively small like an inch or two of water in the basement that comes up through the floor drain," Fitzsimmons said. "Or it can be feet of water in your basement if it’s a particularly bad backup that can wipe out your water heater, your HVAC, your laundry, anything that’s stored in the basement."
MSD is not responsible for damages caused by overland flooding. Christy recommends that residents clear away leaves and debris from driveways and street drains ahead of expected heavy rainfall.
"If you have overland flooding that usually looks like … water coming through a window well, or maybe you have some seams or cracks in your foundation that might allow some water to come in, or you don’t have a waterproof foundation wall," Fitzsimmons said. "If there’s a lot of water that is coming into your basement, not through the floor drain or the sewer … that would not be covered necessarily."
MSD is also not responsible for flooding damage caused by backups in private sewers or the lateral lines that run from the public sewer to a home or building. More than 85% of sewer backups are caused by clogs or breaks in private sewer buildings.
"Often the building sewage or the wastewater from the building itself is not exiting the property fast enough," Fitzsimmons said. "If you have roots in your sewer lateral or you have a collapsed sewer lateral, for example, and it’s on your property, you’ve got to get that fixed."
Fitzsimmons said the first thing homeowners must do is to call MSD to report a flooded basement.
"The second thing is document everything. So if you can, snap some photographs of the conditions of the property that’s in your basement of what is actually happening. That will only serve you in the future," Fitzsimmons said.
It’s very traumatic to have a sewer backup, especially if it’s never happened before and a homeowner is unsure what is happening, Christy said.
"But it is frustrating for homeowners because what we can’t always do is say what it is. Sometimes we're able to rule out it was the public sewer but we’re not able to give them the answers that they want," Christy said. "And that oftentimes involves hiring a plumber because every property has its own unique circumstances in plumbing and especially in the older areas of our city. There are things that property owners probably don’t know about the plumbing in their homes."
If homeowners are unsatisfied with MSD’s response, they can always take their claim to federal court. The appeals process does not require a lawyer. It is meant for residents who believe MSD incorrectly determined that they are not responsible for their basement flooding or believe they are entitled to more money to reimburse for damaged property.
There are two ways to report your sewer backup: call 513-352-4900 or report online here.
