(Milford)– The Iowa Great Lakes Sanitary District has some new regulations on the books following last year’s flood. Superintendent Steve Anderson says 245 million gallons of water flowed through the facility in June of 2024, compared to 90 million gallons in a typical June. He says the majority of that was flood water. Anderson says the new regulations are intended to help alleviate that in future flood events…
“We’re now requiring that those, the lowest drains in the structure, need to be above that flood plain level and we’ve gone with what FEMA says is one foot above the flood level. We’re doing that for storm sewer systems and we’re also doing that for the flood levels of the lakes.”
Anderson says sump pumps illegally connected to the sanitary sewer system also were a major factor. And with the possibility of heavy rain in the forecast, Anderson is requesting homeowners check them to make sure they’re draining where they’re supposed to. He urges anyone who’s unsure about that to contact the Sanitary District Office…
“If they’re concerned that their sump pump is illegally connected or if they’ve got a question about it we’re more than happy to come out and look at it. We’d rather come out and look at it and help them work through a situation to get it removed from the sewer system than have to come in and find it and then potentially have to fine them for doing that. Our goal is that we want to work with them. We want to figure out a solution so that we can get those sump pumps out of the sewer system, get them out to the street to the storm sewer, to the drainage system, whatever’s in their neighborhood, so we can get those sump pumps out of the public sewer system and get them going in the right areas.”
Anderson says the Iowa Great Lakes Sanitary District has stepped up inspections of sump pump connections since last year’s flood.
