Engineers for the Derby Water Pollution Control Authority are trying to figure out how to remove millions of gallons of water from its sanitary sewer system, and they’ll be knocking on your door for help.
The problem is that too much clean water enters Derby’s sanitary sewer system and, instead of making its way to the Housatonic River, ends up at the Derby sewage treatment plant.
On an average day, the sewage treatment plant processes about 1 million gallons of sewage. It can handle up to about 10 million gallons.
But, during heavy rain, the treatment plants gets up to about 13 million dumped on it.
The extra flow creates potential problems, including overflows into the Housatonic River or sewage backups into people’s homes. It’s an especially big deal in Derby, because the pump stations within the sewer system are old, in decay and in need of replacement.
It also costs rate payers more to treat the excess liquid, according to the engineers. Getting the extra water out will save money over the long run, they said.
So the question is — where is this extra storm water coming from, and how is it getting into the pipes that lead to the treatment plant?
To answer that, guys like Josh Lawrence need to poke around your house for about 10 minutes. He is an engineering assistant with Weston & Sampson, the environmental engineering firm hired to do inspections in Derby.
Here’s the official notice, which has been circulating in Derby for weeks:
Anthony DeSimone, an engineer with the company who has been working with the Derby WPCA for about a decade, reached out to the Valley Indy and asked if I would be willing to document an inspection.
The inspections started in June, and they’ve been unable to get into fewer than half the houses they’ve tried to. DeSimone said he simply wanted to raise awareness about the inspections, and to show people what they entail.
So I agreed to let Lawrence and DeSimone in my house, and they suggested that we record video or write a story about the process.
The video accompanying this story is 9 minutes long — yes, that’s far too long for an online video that doesn’t feature kittens or shark attacks, but, if you want to know what the inspection is like, it’s all there.
The first part of the video is me asking questions about the inspection. I was hesitant to allow the inspection, as you’ll see based on my line of questioning in the start of the video.
If you have the attention span of a crack-addicted gnat or have no interest in seeing my beautiful home in digital form, here’s the short version of the inspection:
- They’ll look at the pipe where your sewage leaves your home. They’ll take a photo.
- They’ll take measurements of that pipe and record its location in your home.
- They’ll ask you if you’ve experienced any flooding.
- They’ll ask you if you’ve ever had a backup, or sensed a sewage smell.
- They’ll ask if you have sump pumps, and they’ll ask how those pumps discard the water.
- They’ll ask about floor drains and where the water goes.
- They’ll ask about dehumidifiers and where the water goes and how.
- They’ll look at your gutter downpipes, and question where the water goes.
The inspection itself wasn’t a big deal.
I don’t have sump pumps connected to the sewer line. I have no drains in my basement, and I’m not bottling water from an underground aquifer in my garage.
I do, however, have some questionable gutter downpipes that disappear into the ground in front of my home.
DeSimone said it’s likely those connect to the sewer pipe under Hawthorne Avenue.
So, I could be contributing to the excess water flowing into my city’s sewage treatment plant.
What’s that mean for me in the long run? I don’t know. Maybe I have to simply install two new spouts. Or dig small dry wells.
Or I could call the Derby WPCA and ask them to drop some green dye into the downpipes to really see where the water goes. The WPCA does the service for free if you call 203 – 736-1475.
The engineers stressed there’s no enforcement action or monetary costs associated with the inspections. In other words, no one said to me “You have to correct those gutters, immediately.”
They’re simply collecting data. But, down the road, there are no guarantees. Derby eventually has to come up with a plan about what to do with all their excess water.
But I’m not too worried. At an Aldermen meeting Thursday night, DeSimone said Derby City Hall also drains into the wrong system.
So I’m in good company.
Here’s my inspection report from the company:
