Thank you for looking into this! When I saw you were running for City Council, my first thought was "hmm, I wonder if Rachel can do something about the city streets always flooding lately during big storms...is that even a City Council responsibility? who is in charge of that? hmmm" 😅
A half-block stretch of our street in Laurelton flooded on July 4th, and after several of us came out to clear the drains (one broom, one rake, one pair of tall boots), we found them all clear. So we knew the problem was in the pipes. We did phone this in. Thanks for this information!
A big part of the problem that most people don't know about is that while storm and sewer leave a building separately, here they tie into the same mains which drain to water treatment plants. This is problematic for a few reasons, one as the system is we are treating all that rainwater just the same as the sewage, which is a waste of resources when that rain water could be sent to a less intensive treatment plant and either used as non potable water or returned to the water cycle via the Genesee river or the lake.
Other issue is with these large influxes of water into the sewer mains it could potentially cause it to backflow into the street, houses or commercial properties if there were any blockage in the pipe.
Not all cities are plumbed like ours with combined sewer and storm piping, but we started this system when we were a smaller populace and before climate change meant that we could be facing more risks of contaminated water flooding our streets.
Admittedly a full fix would be a very costly operation, but we are also constantly replacing old and broken sewer mains and there is no reason we couldn't start a project in these areas hit the hardest by these floods to run a separate line, other than money and awareness of how this could be a significant health issue.
I remember once as a kid my street flooding and I went tromping around in the foot deep water, not knowing the fecal and other contaminants I was potentially exposing myself to. I worked as a plumbing designer and in the field as well, I know now how nasty those sewer mains get but the people aren't generally informed.
Thanking you for this information it may come in handy. I am looking forward to having you on the board of the city council. You have a strong following here in Monroe County and name recognition. I look forward to voting for you.
Thank you for looking into this! When I saw you were running for City Council, my first thought was "hmm, I wonder if Rachel can do something about the city streets always flooding lately during big storms...is that even a City Council responsibility? who is in charge of that? hmmm" 😅
The sewer part is county, but there are other mitigation efforts that are city. It’s going to take a big effort to be climate resilient.
A half-block stretch of our street in Laurelton flooded on July 4th, and after several of us came out to clear the drains (one broom, one rake, one pair of tall boots), we found them all clear. So we knew the problem was in the pipes. We did phone this in. Thanks for this information!
A big part of the problem that most people don't know about is that while storm and sewer leave a building separately, here they tie into the same mains which drain to water treatment plants. This is problematic for a few reasons, one as the system is we are treating all that rainwater just the same as the sewage, which is a waste of resources when that rain water could be sent to a less intensive treatment plant and either used as non potable water or returned to the water cycle via the Genesee river or the lake.
Other issue is with these large influxes of water into the sewer mains it could potentially cause it to backflow into the street, houses or commercial properties if there were any blockage in the pipe.
Not all cities are plumbed like ours with combined sewer and storm piping, but we started this system when we were a smaller populace and before climate change meant that we could be facing more risks of contaminated water flooding our streets.
Admittedly a full fix would be a very costly operation, but we are also constantly replacing old and broken sewer mains and there is no reason we couldn't start a project in these areas hit the hardest by these floods to run a separate line, other than money and awareness of how this could be a significant health issue.
I remember once as a kid my street flooding and I went tromping around in the foot deep water, not knowing the fecal and other contaminants I was potentially exposing myself to. I worked as a plumbing designer and in the field as well, I know now how nasty those sewer mains get but the people aren't generally informed.
Thank you Rachel for reporting on this.
Damn, you’re good.
Thanking you for this information it may come in handy. I am looking forward to having you on the board of the city council. You have a strong following here in Monroe County and name recognition. I look forward to voting for you.