SUMMER SEWER REDUCTION PROGRAM
The City of Berea & the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District has adopted a summer residential sprinkling user charge program which will provide a major benefit to residential customers.

Residential water use increases during the summer months because of lawn sprinkling and other seasonal use. This program will tend to lower sewer bills by not charging sewer rates for additional water use during the summer. Summer residential sewer bills will be based upon winter water consumption, unless actual summer water consumption is lower. This program is for owner occupied one, two, three and four family residences.

Sign-up for this program will begin in March when applications will be mailed to all homeowners who are currently not on the program. The program will then take effect each year from May 1 through September 30. You do not have to reapply each year unless you move. If you have any additional questions, please contact the city of Berea Water Billing Office at 891-3308.

If all sewers were watertight and all basement walls were waterproof, there would be no water in the basements due to rainstorms even though the storm sewers were inadequate.

What then does cause basement flooding? The principal cause of basement flooding is the exfiltration of storm water from the storm sewer through open or poor joints, poor manhole construction and cracked pipes.

Water which exfiltrates the storm sewer will, of course, flow downward through the soil until it finds a lower water level or some type of conduit which will carry it away. Generally, it finds a conduit, which is a sanitary sewer, normally constructed one foot or more below the storm sewer.

The design of the sanitary sewer is based on the amount of wastewater from the area plus a small additional amount of infiltration, which would be expected from the storm sewer or from groundwater. The combination of poor joints in the storm and sanitary sewers, the proximity of the sewers, and their adequacy will affect the amount of surcharge or excess water in the sanitary sewer.

The following example shows how the adequacy of the storm sewer determines whether a basement will be flooded, and if so, to what extent. Let us assume that a certain section of storm sewer is inadequate to the extent that there is a build-up of five feet of water in the storm manholes. This build-up indicates that the storm sewer is flowing under pressure. As in any pipe under pressure, water will seek the path of least resistance, which in the majority of cases will be openings in poor joints. It follows that the greater the pressure, the greater the amount of water leaving the storm sewer by way of any open joints, cracked pipes, or poor manholes. Now that the water has escaped the storm sewer, it seeps or flows downward, again seeking the path of least resistance, and finds it at the poor joints of the sanitary sewer. This is especially true when the sanitary sewer is directly below or in close proximity to the storm sewer.

At this storm it should be noted that most house connections have been laid in a single trench with the storm connections above or along side of the sanitary connection. The sanitary sewer because of poor joints, will have some exfiltration but very little in proportion to the amount entering from the storm sewer. This is due to the storm sewer's greater size, total joint area, and its position above the sanitary sewer. Since the amount of storm water entering the sanitary sewer is much greater than the amount leaving it, the flow in the sanitary sewer gradually builds up and in so doing begins to back up in the sanitary house connection. This buildup is also increased by the exfiltration of roof water from the storm house connection, which is under pressure because it cannot discharge all of its water into the overloaded main storm sewer. The water in the sanitary sewer slowly building up because of all these conditions finally has only one place to discharge its excess water - the basement drain. The basement now becomes a reservoir which holds excess water until the storm has subsided and the sanitary sewers are able to carry off this water, which in some cases may be quire a length of time.

The depths of water, if any, in a basement will depend on several factors:

1. The adequacy of the storm sewer; the lesser the adequacy, the more probability of basement flooding.
2. Adequacy of the sanitary sewer; if the sewer is just large enough to carry off waste water, any excess water will cause flooding.
3. Condition of both the storm and sanitary sewer joints, including the house connections; the poorer the joints, the more water can enter the sanitary sewer.
4. Proximity of the storm and sanitary sewer; the storm sewer directly over the sanitary sewer is the worst possible situation.
5. Relative elevations of the basement floor and the main sanitary sewer; the closer the basement floor is to the sanitary sewer, the greater is the possibility of basement flooding.
6. Blockage of sewer by debris or roots growing through joints or cracks in pipes.