Batavia looking for leaky sanitary sewers

Ground and rain water getting into Batavia's sanitary sewers isn't a good thing.

The sewers aren't designed to hold the extra water. This can cause sewage to back up into buildings, overflow at manholes, or overwhelm the ability of the sewage treatment plant to treat sewage before sending its discharge into the Fox River.

Besides which, the unnecessary treatment of clean groundwater costs water customers money.

So the city is going hunting for leaks.

Starting Oct. 18, it will blow pressurized smoke through sanitary sewer lines in several yet-unspecified areas. Crews will watch to see where the smoke comes out, be it pipe breaks, manholes, failing pipe joints or service connections, and vent stacks.

Crews will put a notice a day in advance on the doors of buildings in an area being tested. The locations will also be posted on the city's website, cityofbatavia.net.

Smoke may enter a building if its floor drains or bathroom fixture traps have become dry due to a lack of use. Water department officials recommend pouring a half-gallon of water down each drain, especially floor drains.

The smoke can be a mild irritant to the throat and mucous membranes. If smoke gets in the building, open windows, leave the building and contact the nearby testing crew.

The tests will take about two weeks.

For more information, call (630) 454-2450.

The smoke testing is different from inspections the city has done this year to check for illegal sump pump connections to the sanitary sewer system.