ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Barb Sweet
The Telegram
The City of St. John’s is trying to source alternative equipment for workers so it can resume services to homeowners with sewer backups, says Mayor Danny Breen.
Those options include more expensive devices such as respirators in lieu of the hard-to-get N95 personal protective equipment.
“If that is what it takes to get that done, that’s what we will do,” Breen said Thursday night.
“Because this will be the new normal of requirements for that for quite some time.”
Since April 30, The Telegram has been telling the stories of several St. John’s residents who have paid big bills to private plumbing companies to clear blocked sewer laterals — the pipe outside a home that connects underground to the sewer main — during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the city suspended services such as clearing sewer backups.
Breen said that included homes with outside clean-out pipes because of the danger of sprayback.
While most municipalities don’t provide the service for laterals, as they are considered the homeowners’ responsibility, Breen said it’s an important program.
He’s taken a number of complaint calls.
“It’s bad enough and stressful to have a sewer backup — it’s one of the worst things to have in your home,” Breen said. “To have it in a pandemic and the added stress of the financial issue, I understand that completely. I want to do what I can to help alleviate that.”
But with N95 masks hard to get and an understanding that the health care system needs them the most, there was no alternative for the occupational health and safety of workers, Breen said.
Homeowners can forward private plumbers’ findings to the city, and the city will replace a lateral for $500 if it is not functioning.
Breen said residents can file a claim to the city for the bills they have incurred and copy it to him for consideration.
Whether or not they are successful or what council decides to do in future remains to be seen.
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