Ken Haas found a disturbing site in his basement early last week.
A puddle of water roughly 10 feet in diameter had formed, apparently the result of the recent rainfall. It wasn’t a lot of water, but then again, the previous night’s shower had been rather light.
“What’s going to happen when it really rains?” the Elmhurst resident said.
The water eventually receded, but Haas’ frustration has not. And as far as he’s concerned, the puddle is the fault of the city’s sewer systems.
“It gets me livid,” he said. “They can raise taxes and put up schools all over, but they can’t take care of the sewer problem. I’m not going to stand for it.”
Haas’ experience raises the same question asked by residents last fall when torrential rain flooded dozens of basements in certain areas of the city. Were the city’s sanitary and storm sewers to blame?
Haas, who lives in the 700 block of Swain Avenue, believes the puddle points to problems within city pipes.
Public Works Director Mike Hughes said that’s just not the case. If it were, more residents than Haas would’ve have reported flooding last week.
“When our system breaks, everyone has a problem,” Hughes said.
Public works crews went out to Haas’ home Thursday April 26 and made sure the city sewers were flowing properly. What they found was that tree roots had grown into a sanitary pipe running to footing drains around Haas’ property, Hughes said.
Footing drains collect water that builds up around a home’s foundation. In Haas’ case, the drains use gravity to propel the water into the sanitary sewer, said Hughes.
But occasionally tree roots force their way into the pipes, causing a blockage. When that happens, the water may be pushed back into the basement.
It’s a fairly common problem, especially in pipes that run through the city’s parkways where there are large trees, Hughes said. And when it happens, it’s the property owner’s responsibility to hire a plumber to fix the problem.
“Unfortunately, the homeowner has to repair (the damage),” he said.
The city offers two cost-sharing programs to help homeowners upgrade their pipes. The city will pay 50 percent of the cost for overhead sewers, which prevent water from backing up into a home through the sewer pipes.
The city also will pay 50 percent of the cost to replace old pipes located in the parkway. The pipes are replaced with plastic ones, which resist tree-root intrusion. For more information, call public works at (630) 530-3020.
Last week, Haas went through with the procedure to remove blockages from the pipe. Still, he believes city officials are hiding something.
“They’re just evading the problem. Why else would there be five public works trucks here for five hours? It doesn’t make sense,” he said.
Hughes said crews were simply double-checking his sewer line Thursday.
“I’ve tried to explain it to him,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do that will make a difference to him.”
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Ken Haas found a disturbing site in his basement early last week.
A puddle of water roughly 10 feet in diameter had formed, apparently the result of the recent rainfall. It wasn’t a lot of water, but then again, the previous night’s shower had been rather light.
“What’s going to happen when it really rains?” the Elmhurst resident said.
The water eventually receded, but Haas’ frustration has not. And as far as he’s concerned, the puddle is the fault of the city’s sewer systems.
“It gets me livid,” he said. “They can raise taxes and put up schools all over, but they can’t take care of the sewer problem. I’m not going to stand for it.”
Haas’ experience raises the same question asked by residents last fall when torrential rain flooded dozens of basements in certain areas of the city. Were the city’s sanitary and storm sewers to blame?
Haas, who lives in the 700 block of Swain Avenue, believes the puddle points to problems within city pipes.
Public Works Director Mike Hughes said that’s just not the case. If it were, more residents than Haas would’ve have reported flooding last week.
“When our system breaks, everyone has a problem,” Hughes said.
Public works crews went out to Haas’ home Thursday April 26 and made sure the city sewers were flowing properly. What they found was that tree roots had grown into a sanitary pipe running to footing drains around Haas’ property, Hughes said.
Footing drains collect water that builds up around a home’s foundation. In Haas’ case, the drains use gravity to propel the water into the sanitary sewer, said Hughes.
But occasionally tree roots force their way into the pipes, causing a blockage. When that happens, the water may be pushed back into the basement.
It’s a fairly common problem, especially in pipes that run through the city’s parkways where there are large trees, Hughes said. And when it happens, it’s the property owner’s responsibility to hire a plumber to fix the problem.
“Unfortunately, the homeowner has to repair (the damage),” he said.
The city offers two cost-sharing programs to help homeowners upgrade their pipes. The city will pay 50 percent of the cost for overhead sewers, which prevent water from backing up into a home through the sewer pipes.
The city also will pay 50 percent of the cost to replace old pipes located in the parkway. The pipes are replaced with plastic ones, which resist tree-root intrusion. For more information, call public works at (630) 530-3020.
Last week, Haas went through with the procedure to remove blockages from the pipe. Still, he believes city officials are hiding something.
“They’re just evading the problem. Why else would there be five public works trucks here for five hours? It doesn’t make sense,” he said.
Hughes said crews were simply double-checking his sewer line Thursday.
“I’ve tried to explain it to him,” he said. “There’s nothing we can do that will make a difference to him.”
