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Wheeling Moving on Downspout Daylighting

Photo by Eric Ayres Wheeling Storm Water Coordinator Joe Smith and Public Works Director Russell Jebbia, from left, address members of the Public Works Committee of City Council to discuss the city’s downspout daylighting pilot program, which had been delayed last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

WHEELING — Implementation of a downspout daylighting pilot program in Wheeling was delayed last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but city leaders now are ready to move forward to help reduce basement flooding in certain neighborhoods.

Some city areas consistently flood during heavy rains. Wheeling is working to help resolve a big part of the problem through its projects to separate combined sanitary sewer and stormwater lines.

Yet Wheeling Public Works Director Russell Jebbia this week said residents in affected areas also have to do their part to help.

“Right now in Wheeling, we probably still have 70-75% of our sewers are combination sewers,” Jebbia told members of the Public Works Commission of Council this week, noting that the Bedillion Lane project that has been taking place in Woodsdale and Edgwood is an example of a major sewer separation.

A remaining problem, Jebbia said, is that some areas where sewage separation has already taken place — like Clator, Mill Acres in Elm Grove and several areas of Warwood — still get flooded.

“The main reason for the basement flooding is people still have their downspouts tied into our sanitary sewers,” he said. “When it’s not raining, we don’t have a problem with sewers backing up into people’s basements.”

During hard rains, the water coming through people’s downspouts and into the sanitary sewer lines overwhelms the system, which backs up. Then rainwater mixed with raw sewage backs up into many residents’ basements.

“We shouldn’t have any of those problems when we have a separated system,” Jebbia said. “Stormwater should be able to go out into the storm system, which goes out into the creek and the river. It’s a simple problem to resolve.”

Typically, downspouts tied into the sanitary sewer system direct water into a line only 4-inches in diameter, Jebbia said. He added that “it’s not rocket science” to understand that those pipes cannot handle a volume of water from heavy rains. Jebbia said nine times out of 10, homes with flooded basements have downspouts tied into their sewer systems.

While every residence has different downspout configurations and variables with neighboring properties and distance to the street, officials noted that the rainwater must be diverted to the curb so it flows into the storm sewer system, not the sanitary sewer system.

Last year, the downspout daylighting program was scheduled to begin in the Clator neighborhood. However, city representatives from the Water Pollution Control Division and Storm Water Coordinator Joe Smith were expected to go door-to-door to help educate residents on the best ways to separate their downspouts from the sewer system. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this pilot program was put on hold — until now.

“City officials are more than willing to come out to help people with suggestions on how to do it,” Jebbia said, noting that this is a voluntary program in which all residents in affected areas will be urged to participate.

The city will send out letters to explain how the program works and offer suggestions on how to perform the work. In many situations, the downspout daylighting will be simple, officials said. An elbow piece can be installed on the downspout, water can be directed away from the house on a splash pad, and the lower spout that connects to the sewer system can be capped off. This can be done at a minimal cost, officials noted.

“As for the cost of the splash pads — the cheap ones are $5 to $6,” Smith said. “An elbow is a couple of bucks. Generally you need to keep the line like 3-5 feet away from your house so it doesn’t go back onto your property.”

Smith suggested that local Scout troops and 4-H groups may even be able to assist with the effort as a community project to help them earn badges.

“We understand that not every downspout is going to be able to be pulled out of the system,” Jebbia said. “There are certain situations where you just can’t take them out — there’s no place for it to go without causing property damage to someone else. But if we can get 50-60% of these out, that will be a huge improvement to our system.”

Some connections will be more difficult and more expensive to resolve, and in some cases, may not even be feasible to disconnect, Jebbia noted, adding that people cannot simply redirect water into a neighbor’s yard or basement. But the more fixes that can be done correctly, he said, the better.

“The cost associated with doing this, I’m sure, is a drop in the bucket compared to how much these people spend cleaning up sewage and flooding in their basement three or four times a year,” Councilman Ty Thorngate said.

“In most areas, it won’t take much,” Jebbia said. “But we’ve got to get started somewhere.”

Officials indicated they may explore the possibility of using American Rescue Plan funds to assist with more difficult, more expensive connection issues.

The Public Works Committee agreed to have City Manager Robert Herron to instruct city staff to move forward with the downspout daylighting pilot program immediately.

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