The Town of Essex continues to ensure that the roads are properly drained during rainstorm events.
A report will be going to council this evening with an update on work that has been done throughout the Town's wastewater systems.
The report discusses the inflow and infiltration to the Town's storm and sanitary sewers, and potential solutions to help reduce flooding.
The entire sanitary systems of the Harrow Wastewater Collection System and the Colchester Wastewater Collection System were inspected between October 2023 and January this year. During these inspections, staff placed inflow dishes into the manholes to create a watertight seal.
These inflow dishes help to prevent water flowing through the manholes and into the streets.
Sherry Bondy, Essex mayor, says this is one of many steps to mitigate this issue.
"So this report speaks to inflow and infiltration, which is really when our sanitary and sewage system mix, and it really is not good because it overflows our sanitary system which could provide the basement flooding of sanitary sewage. I really want to get a handle on this and see how we can protect residents going forward."
She says the Town is doing everything they can to avoid issues during significant rainstorm events.
"Everything we do matters, and everything residents do matters. We're looking at more public education about what needs to be done inside a private persons home, and really what we're doing. We're trying to get our ditches, and our waterways, our municipal drains cleaned out as best we can."
Bondy says there are things that homeowners can do.
"Disconnecting your downspout, double checking that your sump pump are not pumping that storm water into our sanitary systems. So these are things that ultimately increase the risk of basement flooding. If we have 10 neighbours on a street who have their sump pumps connected into the storm sewers - that's not good either."
In the fall of 2023, the Environmental Services Department created a Manhole Inspection Program that would help identify sources of infiltration and examine necessary repairs
The Essex Centre Collection System is currently scheduled to be inspected in the fall of 2024, which has money allocated through the Operations Budget.
Council meets tonight at 6 p.m.
