Tecumseh is pumping money into sewer improvements after another major summer storm.
The town will invest $1.1-million into its sewer system in the last of a three-phase $3.6-million upgrade. Upgrading and maintaining existing sewer lines is the end goal according to a report brought before council.
Director of Public Works Dan Piescic says the town has invested close to $20-million in its sewer systems over the past nine years.
"This is another investment in rehabilitating the sanitary sewer system, to tighten it up so that less storm water gets into it, which then can overwhelm the sanitary system and back up into residence and contribute to basement flooding," he says.
Last September more than 1,500 basements flooded, this year's storm only garnered 163 basements taking on water, according to Piescic.
"We've had over 500 applications for the backwater valve, so 500 homes that have the backwater valve put in, means 500 less homes that has the potential to have backup from their sanitary sewer," says Piescic.
He told AM800 News, sewer work helped, but residents taking advantage of back-water-valve programs was a major factor.
Piescic says this year's torrential rains weren't as bad as last year's, but the roads were still underwater — an outcome Piescic says is the preferred alternative to water settling in basements.
"Flooding on the roads, that's basically what's supposed to happen," he says. "Once you get the storm that's bigger than the five-year-storm, the storm sewers fill up and that water fills up on the road, its better on the road than inside of the residents’ basement."
Piescic encourages every resident to take advantage of subsidy programs and flood prevention tips — visit www.tecumseh.ca for more information.
— with files from AM800's Zander Broekel