The Wastewater Maintenance Department is responsible for all sewer stop ups, sewer odor complaints, sewer cave ins, replace lid on cleanout, installation of sewer taps, locating of sewer taps, and notifying if sewer is available for new developments.
Sewer Stop Ups
Sewer Stop Ups can occur due to a blockage in the homeowner’s line to the principal structure. This blockage could be caused by, roots, something flushed down the toilet, and on some occurrences the mains at the road maintained by the City may be full due to large amounts of rainfall or failure of a lift station. Indicators of a sewer stop up may include the following: toilets not flushing, sewer coming out of the toilets or bathtub, or sewer overflowing out of manholes in the road. If you see or experience any of the indicators, please contact the Maintenance Department so, a crew will be dispatched to assess the stop up within an hour or two of notification. The City will attempt to flush the line with our 2017 Freightliner Vacuum Pressure Truck from the cleanout located in the front yard and the crews may also run a tv sewer camera down the line to find the issue. If there is no cleanout and it is not indicating that the sewer stop up is an issue on the City side, the homeowner will have to contact a plumber to unplug the line and a ticket will be generated to install a sewer cleanout at the address. Generally, once the Dottie is called in and all utilities are marked the sewer crew will be out withing two weeks to install a sewer cleanout.
Sewer odor complaints
Sewer odor complaints can occur. Sometimes the chemical plants around the area will produce a smell that smells like sewer. If you smell a sewer smell and are unsure where the smell is coming from you can contact the Maintenance Department and they will send the sewer crew to investigate.
Sewer cave ins
Sewer cave ins can occur at the front of the property due to joints separating. If you notice a cave in, in the front yard please contact the Maintenance Department so a crew can be dispatched to assess. To determine where the break in the sewer line is sewer crews may smoke test, do not be alarmed if you see smoke coming out of the ground and a crew is on site or tv sewer the line. Once determined sewer crew will generate a ticket for repair and a Dottie will be issued. The crew will put stakes and orange ribbon around the affected area until repair can be made. Once the Dottie is in effect crews will begin work on repairing the cave in. Once work is completed a ticket will be issued for a street crew to go back and dress up the yard. It may take up to two (2) weeks for a crew to dress up. If the area is looking worse leading up to the dress up, please contact the Maintenance Department.
Cleanouts
Cleanouts, which are the white pipes in the front yard that stick up should always have a lid on them. If you notice you cleanout does not have a lid or may be damaged, please contact Maintenance Department so we can issue out a work order to replace/repair. Once the ticket is issued it will be within 24 hours lid is replaced.
Sewer Taps
If you are developing property that has never had sewer service. You will have to fill out a Water/Sewer Availability form. This will need to be emailed to the Public Works Admin office (Click Here to Email). The fees for the deposit of the water/sewer tap will be purchased through the utility department. Click here to get estimate cost.
There is an additional fee associated with crews installing and any infrastructure that may need to be broken or removed and replaced after tap is installed. There will be a form that the Utilities Department sends to the Wastewater Maintenance office that will be filled out with the total cost for all fees.
Grease/Oils
We do urge all residents to not flush grease, oils, or other objects down the drains. We understand, especially with young kids, things do find themselves down the toilet. However, any help you can provide in preventing items down the toilet is extremely important. Remember only flush the 3Ps, pee, poo, and (toilet) paper.
Complaints
Please remember when calling the Maintenance Department at 337-527-4583 to report a concern that we will need a location address or intersection, name, phone number, and how long the issue has been occurring or any other details that can be provided.
