The City of Ottawa reports that the Sanitary Sewer is experiencing high flows at their water reclamation facility. All pumps and treatment processes are at full capacity and many collection lines are running full. Officials say this indicates excess flow coming from inflows and infiltrations within the collection system or customer service lines.
So, what does that mean in layman’s terms? Inflow is surface water that goes into the system from roof downspouts and house footing drains, which includes sump pumps. Infiltrations is ground is groundwater going into the system from cracks and gaps in the system piping, either from wastewater or private sources.
What can you do about it? The City says proper repair and maintenance of collection lines and customer owned service lines is critical to prevent excessive system flows, and they encourage everyone to do so.
