Palos Hills Officials Say Sanitary Backup On 81st Avenue Is A Multifaceted Problem

Last week's storms brought what Mayor Gerald Bennett said was “between a 100- and 500-year” rain to the Southland, and for the second week in a row it brought residents to the Palos Hills Council Meeting.

The Council of emotional homeowners at Thursday's meeting, both distraught over flooding issues that occurred during last week's rain event.

Frank Piatkiewicz had tears in his eyes when he told aldermen that sewage, not water, is backing into his crawl space and property on South 81st Avenue.

Cathy Bastian lives next door to Piatkiewicz in the 10000 block of South 81st Avenue and also emotionally addressed the council, although with a firmer tone.

“What are you doing about it?” she asked the council members. “It's not an isolated situation, it's happened repeatedly – do you know what raw sewage is?”

Mayor Gerald Bennett and Public Works Commissioner Dave Weakley both said that Palos Hills' sewer system is one of the best, if not the best in the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, but the homes on that block are older, in a flood plain and at the mercy of all the systems in the MWRD.

“This city did not just wake up to find that a sanitary system has overflowed, we have been very aggressive in trying to solve this,” Bennett said. “I know [Weakley] wants a perfect record and we've come a long way ... we will work aggressively on this matter.”

Piatkiewicz said after the meeting that he understood many factors were at play but felt that something could be done and did not feel he should have to foot the bill to alleviate the problem.

“This is not rainwater, it's [sewage] … this happens all the time, it comes up to the house and I've inquired about it before,” he said. “Any time there is a heavy rain this comes in to the yard and crawl space.”

Piatkiewicz said that while only a few residents were in attendance, most of the street and the homes throughout the block were affected.

Both residents expressed dissatisfaction with the answer that the problem was not entirely within the scope of the city of to fix, but Ald. Ricky Moore said that was the most significant fact.

“It's not an issue where we can flip a switch, the MWRD is the conductor of water flow through the suburbs,” he said.

In an interview with Patch, Weakley said that the problem on 81st Avenue is multifaceted: subject to the constraints of the surrounding systems and MWRD as a whole, a location in a low-lying area and near the MWRD entrance, and developed prior to 1972.

The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972 and required all homes to have overhead sewers to prevent sanitary backups, Weakley said. Homes built prior to that had the plumbing grandfathered in.

Weakley said two other causes of the backup include illegal sump dumping into sanitary sewers by residents and leaks in sanitary pipe joints that allow storm water in.

Palos Hills, and according to Weakley nearly 80 percent of the MWRD, are not combined sewer systems, meaning storm water and sanitary are moved through different, smaller pipes. When storm water enters the sanitary system, it can quickly overload it.

Some communities have combined pipes, where both types of waste water are carried through the same system in larger pipes. Weakley said there are pros and cons to both systems.

As far as the city's system, Weakly said Palos Hills has spent almost $6 million relining pipes so storm water does not enter the sanitary system, but pipes from individual homes and from other communities may have problems.

“We are taking a comprehensive look at the MWRD system and those that are a part of it and have asked that the [MWRD] look at it as well – and they have been very supportive,” he said. “We have our problems, but other communities have thier problems as well.”

Weakley said he was meeting with one resident today and would suggest a back-flow preventer check valve that should alleviate backup into the house.

However, Weakley said the location and construction of the homes are parts of the problem that the city cannot change.

“I don't advocate sanitary sewer overflow in any shape or form,” he said. “[But] our hands are tied by the design of the system and that those homes are directly adjacent to the MWRD. The area is low in elevation and the system surcharges quickly at that low point.”

A representative from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District was not available for comment.