(Spirit Lake)– More frustration over ongoing sewer back-ups during heavy rains highlighted discussion at Tuesday’s Spirit Lake city council meeting.
Rick Duhn told the council sewage got into his basement when last Friday’s two-inch rain caused a manhole in front of his house to overflow, literally raising the lid off it. Duhn says the sewage flowed across his yard and wound up in his basement. One other person who lives in that same area of northeast Spirit Lake had a similar experience. Duhn demanded the city crack down on homeowners with sump pumps that are illegally connected to the sanitary sewer. He says there are many violators in his neighborhood. Duhn says they caused most of the problem with overloaded sewers Friday. Public Works Director Todd Dolphin agreed. Duhn wants the city to actively inspect homes that have sump pumps and to cite those that have pumps that are illegally connected. However, City Attorney Earl Maahs says it isn’t that easy. He says the city needs to have the homeowner’s permission to enter. Otherwise, he says they need to gather “probable cause” and go to a judge to get a search warrant. The city hasn’t ruled out the possibility of doing that. The council also last evening directed Maahs to look at putting more teeth into the city’s sump pump ordinance.
On a related note, it was reported the city’s Utility Committee will meet Thursday to further address the issue, including looking at projects to divert some of the storm water flow away from that area. In addition, Dolphin says the city needs to step up its program of lining sanitary sewers in the older parts of town as soon as possible. He says those sewers are old and prone to a lot of infiltration through joints.
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