Mandatory downspout disconnects are coming in a portion of Ward 1 in Windsor.
City council voted to launch the pilot project at Monday's meeting which will see the area bounded by Norfolk Street, Dougall Avenue and the Herb Gray Parkway disconnected from the sanitary sewer system on the city's dime.
Ward 1 councillor Fred Francis says the area was chosen because it was hardest hit by flooding in August, adding disconnects are a simple way to avoid a surge of storm water in basements.
"It takes storm water out of the sanitary system," says Francis. "So being able to act on that immediately, remove that water capacity from the system, hopefully, will have an immediate impact that will keep people's basements from flooding."
He says residents shouldn't have to live through another flood.
"Each time, it's gut wrenching, it's heartbreaking. You literally see a bin in everyone's driveway and a restoration truck, everyone. People are crying and saying, "I've lost all these valuables," or, "I've lost pictures I can never get back." For the most part, that's what people care about the most."
According to Francis, many residents can no longer get flood insurance due to past floods
"Some people don't have insurance anymore because they've flooded a few times and they're paying out of pocket to restore their basements," he says. "It's a horrible experience. It's something that we don't want to deal with. It's something that we're all committed to fixing. It's certainly a complex problem."
The pilot project will cost $250,000 and falls under the city's $5-billion Sewer and Coastal Flood Protection Master Plan.
An optional downspout disconnect program is already in place, but if the pilot project works, Francis says the mandatory program could take its place across the city.
The pilot gets under way in the spring of 2021.
— With files form AM800's Gord Bacon