(via Councillor Shad Qadri)
As the warmer weather begins, the City of Ottawa is proceeding to clean out Sanitary Sewers across communities. My office has been provided a list of Stittsville streets scheduled for cleaning next week May 23-26:
- Amberlakes Dr.
- Bandelier Way
- Blackbird Ln.
- Brycle Pl.
- Candow Cres.
- Cantilly Cres.
- Carp Rd.
- Cedarow Crt.
- Cherokee Way
- Coach Ave.
- Conductor Ave.
- Cordukes St.
- Crossing Bridge Crt.
- Denali Way
- Eagle Crest Hts.
- Ember Glow Crt.
- Eucalypyus Cir.
- Hobin St.
- Horseshoe Cres.
- Jackson Stitt Cir.
- Johnwoods St.
- Joseph Cir.
- Kimpton Dr.
- Kintail Crt.
- Kittiwake Dr.
- Mccooye Lane
- Mika St.
- Mojave Cres.
- Neil Ave.
- Overland Dr.
- Palmeto Crt.
- Rosehill Ave.
- Santolina St.
- Sirocco Cres.
- Stittsville Main
- Stowgrass Cr.
- Talltree Cres.
- Tony George Pl.
- Wildpine Crt.
- Wrangler Cir.
- Easement (Joseph Cir.)
- Easement (Cedarow Crt.)
- Easement (Miks St.)
In case of backflow, affected households should be cognizant to ensure that toilet lids are kept closed during this time.
For more information related to the wastewater collection system and system cleaning, please visit http://ottawa.ca/en/residents/water-and-environment/wastewater-and-sewers/wastewater-collection-and-treatment
As more updates come regarding the rest of Stittsville, I will be certain to include them in my upcoming weekly electronic newsletters.
The City link is not useful.
The City uses the term “sewer cleaning”. Following the 2009 flooding, the more appropriate term “sewer blasting” was used after several homes in Glen Cairn had excrement blasted onto their walls and ceilings – see “Pipe-clearing blast spews crap into Kanata home” at http://www.torontosun.com/news/columnists/susan_sherring/2009/10/29/11573656.html
Putting a toilet seat down will not necessarily be sufficient as there may be a great deal of pressure which, while rare, may cause injury and damage – see
http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2016/03/14/Baltimore-woman-sues-after-being-literally-covered-in-feces-by-toilet-explosion/9281457976885/
We were told in the Flood Committee meetings that the sewage can also come in via other parts of the basement.
In a 9 Nov 2009 email, a City engineer stated:
“During the cleaning process, air contained in a main line sewer can become somewhat pressurized (n.b. both negatively and positively) as a result of the advancement or retrieval of the flushing nozzle and hose. Generally, this air will readily dissipate without consequence through the mainline sewer system and through a home’s sanitary lateral and sanitary plumbing vents. Occasionally, this pressurized air may escape via a “path of lesser resistance” (e.g. via a toilet, a floor drain, a tub, a sink or a shower drain) and thereby cause water to splash out or be drawn down and out of fixtures and plumbing traps. Unpleasant odours from the sewer or debris left behind in private side plumbing traps, sumps or sags may also be expelled, during such situations.
Most times, homes serviced by the same section of sewer are not affected by blowbacks, while isolated or adjacent homes, for no readily apparent reason, can be affected. Nevertheless, when the City is made aware of a blowback, we do lower the flushing pressure, as much as practical, and thereby slow down the cleaning process so as to reduce air pressurization and the potential for blowbacks. While effective, such mitigative measures unfortunately do not guarantee a blowback will not reoccur”.
Once you have had a blasting incident occur, there is supposed to be a special notification process as identified in the 16 Nov 2009 Report to PEC and Council Resident Notification in Advance of Sewer Cleaning at http://ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/pec/2009/11-24/9%20-%20ACS2009-CCS-PEC-0030%20-%20%20Notification%20of%20Sewer%20Cleaning.htm which says “Staff has expanded the protocol to provide one business day in advance notification in addition to a “day of” notification for all locations. Historically, one of the precautions has been to notify the building occupants in the hours preceding the cleaning operations. Notification enables the homeowner to mitigate the consequences, but it does not prevent the incident”.
The Planning & Environment Committee on the 24 Nov 2009 indicated that a review would be undertaken of the notification process, but I was unable to locate the results in meetings which supposed to have brought it back to Council
If sewer blasting impacts adversely impacts your home, the City has a claims process which may or may not compensate you for cleaning up the mess.
You might want to put weights on all of these and not let anyone use a toilet when the sewer cleaning trucks come. The trucks are very large and noisy
The “vague” notice is intended to reduce costs and protect contractors from having to do more work to provide specific dates. If the blasting does impact your home, take photographs and report it to the City and your Councillor so that further action can be taken as the lack of more specific notices is a City-wide problem
Thanks for the extra context (and warning) Faith.
Thank you for the clarification Faith.