ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Lockdown restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic are hard enough for anyone, but for one St. John’s family there has been the added stink of dealing with a malfunctioning sewer line.
A City of St. John’s decision to suspend sewer services to residents with lateral failures left a west end man with a heavy bill from a private contractor, he said, before the city relented and indicated he would be covered if anything happens again.
The city had suspended its sewer services to private homes due to the COVID-19 crisis in late March. Those services in routine times include unblocking lines, as well as replacing unfunctional laterals on private homeowner property, the lateral being the underground pipe from a house to the main city sewer under the street.
It cost the man, who didn’t want his name used due to privacy reasons, more than $1,000 to bring in a private environmental services company to investigate the problem and clear the sewer line.
“Lucky everything stayed outside on the front lawn, if you consider that lucky."
The sewage didn’t go in his house — as the cap blew off the exterior cleanout, relieving the pressure — but the family was left with raw sewage in their yard, which he dug up himself to dispose of and replace with fresh soil.
“Lucky everything stayed outside on the front lawn, if you consider that lucky,” he said.
He was talking to an insurance adjuster about coverage as well, but the man said the city seemed to relent late Tuesday after initially telling him he wasn’t going to get any help if his sewer pipe erupted again.
The man had contacted The Telegram after seeing a photo of the big dig on Water Street in downtown St. John’s and thought it didn’t make sense to leave residents in stinky hardship if that commercial district sewer and water project could go ahead despite COVID-19 risks.
“The city is looking after their needs, not the residents',” he said, adding there is more than one disease risk in fecal matter than just COVID-19.
He had his lateral was replaced four years ago for the bargain $500 city fee, but a section of it extended under a sidewalk connecting to the city sewer and that’s the part that recently failed.
He considers the sewer services an essential service.
The sewer failure meant the family had to put used toilet paper in the garbage, as opposed to flushing it, which he said pushed one problem from one city service — environmental services — to another, garbage collection.
On Tuesday the man said the city investigated the situation and doesn’t think it will back up again, but told him that he could call 311 if it did and he will be taken care of.
That left him feeling like he was playing roulette and the city wasn’t living up to its duty.
“Luckily my insurance covers it. A lot of people don’t have sewer coverage,” he said of the potential risk for it to flood his house.
“The city has introduced COVID-19 policies that leave residents on their own to deal with any sort of backup that is not in a main line. … Not providing or adapting some sort of service for residents is leaving some residents with backed up feces on properties and will cost thousands of dollars to remediate without city assistance. At this time the city has walked away from a number of residents as the issue is within the laterals, not mains.”
In a written response Thursday, the city said the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a business continuity plan identifying core services that are provided during a work interruption.
And due to the health, safety and well-being of employees at the forefront, the city suspended the clearing of sewer backups to individual properties.
In normal times, residents can report a sewer backup at their home and the city will send a crew to investigate and clear any blockages. Blockages can occur in the publicly owned sewer mains or inside the privately owned sewer lateral.
Common sources of blockage include sending inappropriate materials down the drain, such as grease and “flushable” wipes, intrusion of roots, pipe sags or structural failure of the pipe, the city said.
Under the current program, driven by the COVID-19 crisis, after receiving a report of a sewer backup, the city will send a crew to investigate to ensure the blockage is not occurring in the publicly owned sewer mains, which can cause issues for other homes.
If the publicly owned mains are functioning, the homeowner is advised so they can contact a private contractor to respond to the blockage within the individual lateral.
The city will still offer assistance to owner-occupied homes if the private contractor is unable to clear the blockage, the city said.
The private contractor is required to submit a report indicating the work completed to date and possible cause and/or location of the problem.
The city will then review the report and either recommend a course of action to the property owner or excavate and repair a section of the sewer lateral to provide a functioning service. The city said it will not repair or replace a sewer lateral if it is still functioning.
Since the city has suspended the clearing of sewer backups in private laterals, it has received 114 requests to inspect the public infrastructure for sewer blockages.
There is no timeline as to when this service will be reinstated, the city said Thursday.
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