Fiscal Note
Title
Regarding the Establishment of a Program to Reimburse Property Owners for Losses Sustained as a Result of Backups or Stoppages in the Public Sewerage System.
Body
1. Purpose
In September 2004, the Madison Common Council adopted Resolution #61930 which established a program to reimburse property owners for certain losses sustained as a result of a water main break where it had been determined that the City was not legally liable. Reimbursements were limited to $1,000 for clean up costs and $2,500 for damage to building mechanicals and appliances.
This resolution also required that the City Engineer study whether and to what extent a similar program should be created for damages caused by sewer backups not caused by a water main break and submit a report and recommendations to the Board of Estimates by February 2005.
2. Executive Summary
The City conducted a review of its sanitary sewer system preventive maintenance program including data related to sewer main back ups, private sewer back ups and claims filed against the City for damage from sewer back ups. The City's preventive maintenance activities and frequencies as well as rate of sewer main backups were compared to industry benchmarks. The City also surveyed property owners that had experienced a sewer back up that was determined to be the result of a blockage/problem in the City sanitary main.
Based on established benchmarks the City of Madison has a very aggressive sewer preventive maintenance and inspection program. This program provides for the scheduled cleaning of every section of sanitary sewer main at least once every three (3) years. As a result the City experiences a very low incidence of sewer back up.
Despite the aggressive maintenance and inspection program that the City has implemented system blockages are inevitable. The most common causes of blockages are tree roots and grease. Vandalism to and misuse of the system can also result in a main b...
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