Posts tagged pipes
Flooded areas water recedes, sewage leaks diminish
Sep 21st
Floodwaters recede and wastewater backups diminish; customer assistance needed
City requests customer help to identify localized backups as crews continue to respond
After extensive efforts, the City of Boulder Utilities Division has restored the ability of primary sanitary sewer pipelines to deliver wastewater from neighborhoods to the Wastewater Treatment Facility on 75th Street.
These efforts, combined with receding floodwaters, should allow pipes serving neighborhoods to drain and relieve backups into homes and businesses. Flows reaching the wastewater treatment facility have decreased, from an excess of 50 million gallons per day (following the flood event) to 31 million gallons this morning.
While flows still remain at approximately two times the normal rate for this time of year, the change reflects a significant decrease in the amount of groundwater and floodwater entering the wastewater collection system and has allowed crews to access key pipelines to remove dirt and debris.
Given the extent of major flooding, it is likely that numerous blockages and damaged pipes impacting smaller areas remain. In order to allow those issues to be addressed more efficiently, the city is requesting that residents and businesses who are still experiencing backups contact the Public Works Call Center at 303-413-7100 as soon as possible. Updated information from customers will help crews more quickly locate and resolve issues in the city’s more than 355 miles of pipe and approximately 9,200 manholes.
The Public Works Call Center is open Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. If the public need remains, the city will extend call center hours over the weekend to be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
For complete flood response and recovery information, visit www.bouldefloodinfo.net. Residents may also sign up to get flood updates right to their email inbox.
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Backed up sewer system raises it’s UGLY head
Sep 15th
Boulder residents continue to report that water or sewage is backing up into their homes. In most cases, this is groundwater and floodwater, not untreated wastewater (sewage).
However, if residents see or smell solid waste:
- They should evacuate, if possible, as raw sewage represents a health and sanitation risk: and
- Report the backup to the Emergency Call Center at 303-413-7730 and ask that the issue be reported to City of Boulder Public Works crews.
These backups could still be the result of issues on private property, but the city would like to gather the information to determine if it indicates a system failure.
The city understands resident frustration about this issue, but the sanitary sewer system is particularly challenging to address for a number of reasons:
- The city has approximately 355 miles of sanitary sewer lines (pipes) and approximately 9,200 sanitary sewer manholes;
- A large portion of this system has been impacted by floodwaters and access manholes remain under water and inaccessible;
- The collection system (pipes) continues to carry a large amount of flood water, groundwater, mud, and debris; and
- The system functions by gravity and flows downhill to the wastewater treatment plant on 75th Street east of the city.
In order to address system-wide issues, the city must focus on low-lying areas first, which will hopefully become more and more feasible as floodwaters recede. This initial action is necessary as system back-ups (downstream) affects system functionality (upstream). While property owners farther from the creek may not see crews working adjacent to their properties, efforts occurring downstream are needed to restore overall system functionality and relieve backups in their area.
The city continues to urge water conservation measures by all city water customers (residents and businesses); minimizing water use and discharges to the sanitary sewer system will help mitigate impacts to affected residents and preserve the city’s water supply.
During the next few days, the city hopes to make significant progress on restoring system functionality as weather conditions improve and floodwaters recede. Updated information will be available as the city is able to access additional low-lying areas and assess conditions.
For more information, visit www.BoulderOEM.com. To report raw sewage in your home, please call the Emergency Call Center at 303-413-7730 and ask that the issue be reported to City of Boulder Public Works crews.
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