City working on solution for lift station problem
By Randy Bell
When the power goes out, for most Clintonians, it means no lights, air conditioning or TV and the risk of losing the food in refrigerators if the outage lasts long enough. But when the electricity is lost in Christopher Reed’s neighborhood in Clinton, it can create a real stink. There’s a sewage lift station practically at the front door of his Cambridge Cove home, and, when power is lost, the sewage can start backing up.
“Sometimes it spills over in our front yard,” Reed says. “It smells bad.”
But that may not be the worst of it.
“We have a gurgle in the bathroom, in the commode, and the next thing you know, here comes the sewage. When [the power] goes out, it starts. But sometimes we may be asleep, and the next morning we may find out we’ve got stuff all over the floor.”
Reed has lived there since 2003 and estimates there’ve been about seven sewage overflows.
“Each time is not the same. Sometimes, it’s small, [sometimes] it’s greater.”
Reed is asking the City to install a generator that would start automatically when the electricity goes out to keep the lift station running to help protect his home and his neighbor’s house across the street, which is also threatened by sewage overflows.
Public Works Director Phillip Lilley says a lift station is designed to move sewage where it wouldn’t normally go.
“It’s basically just a mechanism that pushes sewage uphill,” Lilley said.
Clinton has more than sixty lift stations, but Lilley says the problem on Cambridge Cove is unique.
“Honestly, this is my first time ever hearing about a lift station losing power and causing flooding on someone’s house,” said Lilley.
He says Reed’s home is located “in a bowl” in the lowest spot in that neighborhood, and, during a flood, rainwater can infiltrate and overload the sewer lines preventing the lift station pump from doing its job even if the power is still on.
Reed would like to get some help with his flooding problems, too. As he puts it, “I’ve got a complex, dual situation here.”
