City of Sidney
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The City’s Flood Abatement Program was established to address residential properties that were succumbing to sewer backups and basement flooding during precipitation events. The original program provided monetary relief to the property owner to address flood control measures on private property. This included the removal of foundation drains, roof drains and/or the installation of backflow prevention devices on the sanitary lateral.
The Flood Abatement Program was modified to incorporate residential or private property problems discovered during the City’s Inflow & Infiltration Reduction Program. This is an ongoing and active program whereby City staff investigates sources of inflow and infiltration into the City’s sanitary sewer system. The I/I Reduction Program utilizes numerous tools such as sewer televising, smoke testing, flow monitoring and dye testing to identify those contributors of clean water into the sanitary sewers.
Reduction of inflow and infiltration into the sanitary sewer system has become the City Sewer Department’s primary objective. Clean water intrusion into the sanitary sewer system creates potential sewer flooding problems and increases the City’s operational costs at the Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The majority of inflow and infiltration discovered comes from private property sources, such as, downspout connections to sanitary lateral, missing or defective cleanout caps, foundation drain connections to the sanitary lateral, and/or defective sanitary lateral pipes. To this end, it has become necessary to modify the Flood Abatement Program to provide monetary assistance to residential property owners that have been identified and targeted for repairs or removal of their contributing inflow and infiltration.
The following provides the City’s procedures for determining whether a property owner is qualified and the procedures for applying for funding under this program.
RESIDENTIAL FLOOD ABATEMENT PROGRAM PROCEDURES
PROCEDURES FOR RESIDENTIAL FLOOD ABATEMENT ASSISTANCE
| STEP 1 | Persons who have experienced problems with repeated sanitary sewer backups during precipitation events may contact the City’s Utilities Director to initiate the application procedure for funding assistance. The qualifying criteria are: | ||
| Repeated sewer backups and basement flooding during precipitation events. Those meeting the criteria shall be eligible for the following assistance | |||
| i) | The City shall provide up to $2,000 for the installation of a dual backflow prevention device, valve or stand pipe on the sanitary lateral. | ||
| ii) | The City shall provide up to $3,000 for the installation of a dual backflow prevention device, valve, stand pipe and the installation of a sump pump for the separation of foundation drain/footer tile from the sanitary lateral. | ||
| Under the Flood Abatement Program, broken sewer laterals, roots in the sewer lateral or other deficiencies in the sanitary sewer lateral are not considerations for funding assistance under this particular program and is the responsibility of the property owner | |||
| STEP 2 | The City’s Underground Utilities Staff will inspect the property in it’s entirety to determine the extent of the problem. This may include: televising of sanitary lateral, smoke testing of sewers, dye testing and visual inspections of the home. | ||
| STEP 3 | The City’s Underground Utilities Staff, after inspection, shall provide a written report on the investigation. This report shall delineate whether there is a problem with the property owner’s sewer system and shall delineate the recommended course of action to correct the deficiencies | ||
| The recommendations must be hydraulically sound and it can realistically solve the problem. | |||
| The flood abatement device or measures will not be installed in the event that it could cause damage to the property or create a problem at another location. | |||
| STEP 4 | The report and recommended actions will be reviewed by an in-house City Committee made up of the Public Works Director, the Utilities Director and the Underground Utilities Supervisor to determine whether the property owner qualifies for the program. | ||
| STEP 5 | a) If it has been determined that the property owner
does not qualifyfor the program, the Utilities Director shall inform
the owner in writing stating why they are not eligible. b) If it has been determined that the property owner does qualify for the program, the Utilities Director shall send the owner a report on the recommendations and a Flood Abatement Agreement for participation in the program. c) In either communication, the property owner is informed that they may seek a second opinion on the reported recommendations at their own expense. If this option is chosen, the second opinion is provided to the City’s In-house Committee for review. The Committee’s review and decision shall become final and the property owner shall be advised of the outcome. |
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| STEP 6 | Persons participating in this Flood Abatement Program
would be required to: a) Accept the City’s recommended, cost effective solution. If the property owner wants a more costly solution, the City will only reimburse the cost associated with the less costly approach. b) Execute a hold harmless agreement, indemnifying the City from any future claim that could result from the failure of the flood abatement device or measure. c) Property owner agrees to make any necessary repairs to their sanitary lateral that may be necessary to facilitate the installation of the flood abatement device/measure or eliminate any further problems with the service. d) Property owner agrees to pay the difference between the plumber’s
estimate and what the City agrees to fund. |
| STEP 7 | Upon acceptance, the Flood Abatement Agreement is signed and notorized
by the property owner and returned to the City’s Utilities Director.
The Flood Abatement Agreement must be approved by the City Manager. |
| STEP 8 | The Underground Utilities Supervisor solicits bids from at least three plumbers for the recommended course of action. |
| STEP 9 | A purchase order request for the recommended work is initiated by the Utilities Director. |
| STEP 10 | Upon receipt of the purchase order, the City will notify the selected plumber to initiate the work. The corrective actions must be inspected and approved by the Underground Utilities Department. |
| STEP 11 | The property owner is provided with written instructions on how to operate the flood prevention device and the property owner must acknowledge receipt. |
| The City of Sidney may agree to reimburse the property owner for work already completed. To qualify, the work must have been completed within the previous six (6) months and as a follow-up must be inspected by the City’s Utilities Department. The same criteria shall apply to determine qualifications for reimbursement. |