Sanitary Sewer Maintenance and Backups

Sanitary Sewer Backups

The City’s sanitary sewer system consists of a network of pipes and manholes. The system is designed to carry wastewater from homes and other buildings to the Urbana-Champaign Sanitary District’s interceptor sewer system. The Sanitary District’s interceptor system consists of larger pipes that carry wastewater to their treatment plant. There it is processed before being emptied to a stream. Both the City’s sanitary sewers and the Sanitary District’s interceptors are designed only for sanitary wastes.

If the sanitary sewers only transported wastewater, backups would only occur when obstructions were present in sewer pipes. However, during certain wet weather conditions, sanitary sewers become overloaded with groundwater or stormwater runoff so they become surcharged or overloaded. This results in backups into lower levels and basements, or slow running services.

Anytime backups occur, homeowners should first contact:

Operations Division (BEFORE contacting a plumber or sewer service)
Public Works Department
702 Edgebrook Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: 217/403-4770

Sanitary Sewer Maintenance Program

The Sanitary Sewer Maintenance Program annually performs the following tasks:

• Cleans and televises 90,000 feet of sewer pipe (10%) of the City’s sewer system. The goal is to clean and televise the system on a 10-year cycle.
• Chemically or mechanically root treats 100,000 feet of sewer pipe that have chronic root problems. This treatment must be repeated annually.
• Additional cleaning of locations with chronic blockage problems is performed monthly. These blockages are typically caused by or aggravated by reoccurring grease accumulations in the sanitary sewer pipes. A program to implement a City ordinance targeting grease accumulations is currently under development.

For more information contact:

Operations Division
Public Works Department
702 Edgebrook Drive
Champaign, IL 61820
Phone: 217/403-4770