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Clear Lake Sump Inspection |
Due to high wastewater flows in the sanitary sewer system during wet weather periods, the City of Clear Lake, City of Ventura and unincorporated area served by the Clear Lake Sanitary District will be adopting Ordinances regulating the discharge of clear water into the sanitary sewer system. Clear water from any roof, surface, ground, sump pump, footing tile, swimming pool, seepage collection system (beaver system) or other natural precipitation will be prohibited from discharging into the sanitary sewer.
The Cities and District, through its consultant, will be conducting mandatory sump pump inspections of all buildings to verify that sump pumps, roof drains, and other clear water sources are not connected to the sanitary sewer system.
Inspections will take place during 2009 and 2010. All buildings will be inspected. A typical inspection is completed in under 15 minutes. The Cities and District will be separated into approximately seven sectors, designated by a color (red, yellow, green, blue, purple, silver, gold), to stagger inspection times throughout these years. You will be contacted at a later time to inform you of your sector color and to invite you to schedule your inspection.
Why are the inspections being conducted?
- Sump pump programs are typically the MOST cost effective method to reduce clear water from the sanitary sewer collection system.
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Removing clear water from the sanitary sewer
- Protects your investment in the public infrastructure
- Reduces the potential for backups and property damage
- Helps the Cities and District increase customer satisfaction
The engineering firm, WHKS & Co., is coordinating this program and will serve as Project consultant. Correspondence may be sent regarding this program from the Cities, District, or WHKS & Co. Contact Us
The sanitary sewer system in your community was designed to convey domestic and commercial wastewater to the wastewater treatment plant (http://www.clearlakesd.org) to be treated before entering the watershed. On the other hand, rain water and ground water, called 'clear water', typically does not need to be treated and should go to the ground surface or storm sewer, not into the sanitary sewer.
If clear water enters the sanitary sewer it must be transported to the wastewater plant and treated along with the normal domestic wastewater. Excess clear water in the sanitary sewer collection system leads to unnecessarily high flows in the sanitary sewer and results in increased taxpayer costs to construct and maintain the collection system, potential backups and negative health repercussions if backups occur.
The Cities and District engage in regular maintenance to correct cracks and other defects in the sanitary sewer collection system pipes and manholes. However, a major source of clear water is generally on private property: clear water that is collected by roof drains, sump pumps, seepage collection systems ("beaver drains") and foundation drains.
The magnitude of flow increases due to clear water is substantial. Flows can jump by 50%-200% or higher when rains or runoff occur at the plant. The jump in flows during wet weather is evidence that clear water is entering the system. As a side note, normal flow rates at the wastewater treatment plant average approximately 2 million gallons per day. During rain events in June of 2008 flows increased to 25 million gallons per day, approximately 1300% the normal flow rate.
A few sump pumps connected to the sanitary sewer are all it takes to make a big difference to a community's collection system. A typical sanitary sewer pipe in a residential neighborhood is an 8" diameter pipe with a typical capacity of 350 gallons per minute (gpm). This is plenty of capacity if only domestic wastewater entered the pipe. However, add a few sump pumps that can discharge between 20 - 100 gpm apiece, and the pipe could be quickly be overloaded, potentially leading to backups in that neighborhood.
So the City of Clear Lake, City of Ventura and unincorporated area served by the Clear Lake Sanitary District, through its consultant WHKS & Co., will be conducting mandatory sump pump inspections of all buildings to verify that sump pumps, roof drains, and other clear water sources are not connected to the sanitary sewer system.
The goal of this program is to remove clear water from the sanitary sewer collection system, which will reduce the potential for sanitary sewer backups, improve public health and extend the service life of the sanitary sewer collection system and treatment plant, which can ultimately lead to lower taxpayer costs.
Timeframe: Inspections will take place during 2009 and 2010. All buildings will be inspected. The Cities and District will be separated into approximately seven sectors, designated by a color (red, yellow, green, blue, purple, silver, gold), to stagger inspection times throughout these years. You will be contacted at a later time to inform you of your sector color and to invite you to schedule your inspection.
Scheduled Appointments: To ensure resident safety, all inspections will be scheduled. No door-to-door inspections will be conducted. Inspections will be completed between the hours of 7:00 am and 7:00 pm.
Web or Telephone: There is both a telephone number and a web based option to make scheduling an appointment fast and easy. The secure web-based scheduling system allows residents to schedule an appointment. When it is time for your neighborhood (sector) to be inspected, you will be sent a letter containing a unique website login identification and password. Residents who do not want to use the Internet can still call our telephone number to schedule an appointment.
Identification of Inspectors: WHKS inspectors also will be wearing an identification badge with the WHKS and City logos, as well as WHKS clothing and vehicles. If you have any questions on the identity of the inspection, please feel free to contact us.
The Inspection: A typical inspection is completed in under 15 minutes. There must be an adult occupant present during the inspection. The inspection will consist of observing five items:
- Exterior Grading: Does exterior grading slope towards the building?
- Roof Drains: Are there roof drain downspouts that go into the ground?
- Basement: Is there a basement?
- Seepage Collection System (Beaver System): Is there a seepage collection system? If present, does it discharge into a sump pit (proper) or the floor drain (improper)?
- Sump Pit/Sump Pump: Is there a sump pump? If present, does it discharge ouside the basement through rigid pipe (proper), discharge to the floor drain (improper) or discharge to either location through a flexible hose (improper).
The inspector will photograph the interior plumbing and exterior of the home with permission of the occupant. The inspector will also make a sketch of the location of the 5 items listed above. If a sump pump or roof drain discharge location cannot be determined by visual inspection, it shall be noted and the appropriate City or District personnel will follow up with the occupant at a later time to determine the discharge location. Finally, both the inspector and occupant will need to sign the inspection record to verify that the inspection took place.
If an improper connection is found, the inspector will give a Violation Notice to the occupant and explain the necessary correction and timeframe for correction. A reinspection must then be scheduled and conducted to verify that the correction has been made.
