Oglesby City Hall is considering a program to help prevent sewer backups. Commissioner Jason Curran says backflow prevention valves can be installed. Some other cities cover half the cost to install them for people who’ve already had backups. Parts can be a few hundred dollars. Labor could run into the thousands.
The city may be able to prevent backups in the first place by upgrading sewer lift pumps. Curran says if they’re too small, they can’t keep up during heavy use periods. In some cases, the pumps have failed because of towels, underwear, and diapers in the pipes. Presumably, they were flushed down toilets and somehow didn’t clog the pipes in someone’s home or business. Curran says even a pair of jeans has come through.
One solution could be “chopper” pumps. Just as the name suggests, they chop up things that are big and don’t dissolve.
Oglesby commissioners talked about the problem last week.