The drains and toilets in your home are connected to the city’s sewer main via a service line.  Sometimes service lines stop working correctly.  Here are some signs that there is a problem:

• Sink or Tub water draining at a noticeably slower than normal rate or not draining at all.

• Toilet not draining properly when flushed (like it is stopped up).

 

 In extreme cases sewer water can:
 

• Flow back into a toilet, tub or some other low point in your home.

• Leak out of the service line access cap (located between your home and sewer main).

 There are several potential causes to service line problems including:
 

• Tree roots growing into the service line

• Foreign objects put in to the sewer from the house.

• Physical damage to the service line causing it to collapse.

• Extreme cases, the sewer main can become blocked which subsequently prevents your service line from draining.

• Very extreme cases, inflow and infiltration during extreme weather events can max out the sewer mains preventing your service line from being able to drain into the sewer main.

 If you believe your service line is even partially blocked, you should contact a qualified local plumber as soon as possible.

A complaint that elected officials often heard was that homeowners had to pay plumber bills for service line issues that turned out to be at least partially caused by problems in the city’s sewer main.  To address this complaint, elected officials enacted a policy to address this.  Compensation of Professional Plumbers Finding Sewer Main Flow Issues.