Opening the Flood Gates

June 30, 2015:  The answers to the basement, yard and street flooding are none that you want to hear. The city will continue to maintain that the sheer volumes of these rains are the cause. While there is some truth to that, we have widespread infiltration issues with the storm/sanitary sewer connections. Residents remain skeptical that the pump station fail was a “rumor”.

To fix the problems of our old sewer systems would cost more money than the city can come up with. Since 2003 the city has invested $7.4 million in our sewer system. The mayor and consulting engineer Bob Greytak wouldn’t venture a guess at the cost of repairing/replacing the entire system except to say it can be done and would be tremendously expensive and would disrupt every road and every resident of the city. With 66 miles of roadways in Bay and a storm sewer system and sanitary sewers running the same length, Greytak estimated “at the low end we may be talking about $500 a foot”. It isn’t just the system but it would also require all new streets. And to what end? “As the saying goes there is always going to be a bigger storm. If we design for a 100 year storm, there is going to be a 200 year storm.”

At the beginning of the meeting the mayor updated the situation. 8 to 10 inches of rain over 2 weeks on a totally saturated ground was identified as the problem. Creeks were running high, the city pool was on the verge of overflow and there were issues with the retention basins, one in Avon Lake and one on a school property. The treatment plant ran fine. Normal volume is 14 million gallons a day. Saturday it was 160 million gallons. Over capacity to the point it necessitated opening the flood gates and dumping into Lake Erie. Greytak confirmed there was never a problem with the Rocky River treatment plant.

Urging residents to continue to call, the mayor believed some of the calls coming in to report flooding were repeat events given some residents flooded 2 or 3 different times during that period. A Carlton Road resident commented that he keeps hearing the city is “reaching out” to people trying to get information. “I have not heard or seen anything and my street was underwater.” The mayor said right now they have 3 things going: Information on the city website and email blasts. With over 400 calls on Tuesday and Wednesday, “our guys are going down the list.” They will get back to you, she said, you just may be further down the list. She is also getting ready to send out her quarterly newsletter with a very specific list of do's and don’ts for private property. She stated that Rocky River and Avon Lake were hammered also and she doesn’t think they reached out to their residents to get their addresses.

The mayor stated a few times she wanted to dispel the rumor “and that was just a rumor” that the pump stations were not working properly. The red light is meant to come on and it means high water. A Carlton Rd. resident said he heard it was a lift station problem. The mayor says “It was not”; he continues, “A qualified plumber told me this.” “Well he’s wrong.” A Plymouth Rd. resident pressed on “In your email you said there was an issue. What was the issue?” “There was an issue. There are 2 pumps – 1 was running hot so our guys changed it out but at no time did it ever stop.” A resident questioned if there was diminished capacity when the pump was being switched. She was told of the 2 pumps, one is a backup. Another Carlton Rd. resident said his wife was walking Saturday when crews were out and she witnessed a rather animated discussion regarding the pump station settings that shouldn’t have been that way etc., so “that doesn’t jive with your comments that everything was fine. I would ask that you look at that and report back to us.” Residents wondered - if everything was fine why were there crews at the station. Another resident wanted to know if there would be an official investigation into the pump station so we know for sure it did not contribute to the problems. The mayor said they will take a look because of some of these comments, but “just like with anything mechanical I can’t guarantee it will never happen. But I’m pretty confident even though there might have been some testosterone going off in arguments the pump station never shut down.”

There is more information, and I will share it but I do not want to overwhelm you and I need a break! Please check back.