Committee Working to Stop Flooding Without Sparking 'Sump Pump Wars'

Written by Carol Kania Morency

One of the solutions to chronic flooding in the city may come down to an equation, much like “solving for X” in algebra. The Public Works and Buildings Committee on Monday took to the blackboard to start drafting the first of what will likely be many new stormwater ordinances.

Working with recommendations submitted by the city's outside engineering consultant, Christopher Burke, the committee tried to imagine a way to get homeowners to disconnect downspouts and sump pumps from the city's stormwater system—without telling residents exactly how to do it.

The city needed to be able to tell homeowners “you need to keep X percent of water on site for X time,” said 5th Ward Alderman Chris Healy.

“It's a lot easier to legislate outcomes than to legislate means,” Public Works Director Mike Hughes said.

Hughes recalled the city mandate in the late 1980s that forced homeowners to disconnect stormwater drains from the sanitary sewer system. Many residents simply let the water drain into their yard, causing discord when the excess runoff ended up next door.

This time, Hughes stressed, the city knows that it is impossible to force homes to completely break from the city's storm system. The idea, the committee acknowledged, was to make homeowners implement other means of catching rain and slowing the flow before it hits storm drains.

The city could offer ideas for individual home mitigation, including rain gardens or swales, which trap water temporarily and keep it from rushing into the ground, or rain harvesting systems that hold water for use in lawn maintenance.

How much capacity a rain garden should have or how swales would be constructed on various lots are just a few of the questions staff will ponder as they tackle a first draft of the disconnection ordinance.

Third Ward Alderman Mike Bram wanted the committee to keep in mind “what a single-family homeowner is able to take on as a cost burden.”

A few of Burke's recommended ordinance changes, including setting a maximum area of impervious surface coverage per lot, will likely be sent to the Development, Building and Zoning Committee for consideration.