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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-20-18 Health and Public Saftey & Utilities 45p1ITH �'PEACE Z 1865 s OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK KAREEMAH FOWLER, CITY CLERK HEALTH &PUBLIC SAFETY AUGUST 20 2018 6:03 P.M. UTILITIES JOINT COMMITTEE MEETING Committee Members Present: Jo M. Broden, Jake Teshka, Karen White, Oliver Davis, Susan Soisson(citizen member) Committee Members Absent: John Voorde, Sharon McBride, Regina Williams-Preston Other Council Present: Tim Scott Other Council Absent: Gavin Ferlic Others Present: Kareemah Fowler, Jennifer Cof nan Presenters: Kieran Fahey, Sky Metters Agenda: Welcome, Introductions, Meeting Overview Opening Comments Lawson Fisher and Associates' 2018 South Bend Sewer& Flood Study Findings Other Updates Public Comment Closing Remarks Adjournment Health and Public Safety Committee Chair Jo M. Broden called to order the joint meeting of the Health and Public Safety and Utilities Committees at 6:03 p.m. She introduced members of the Committees,reviewed the evening's agenda, and proceeded to give the floor to the presenters. Opening Comments Kieran Fahey,Department of Public Works, CSO Project Director Kieran Fahey, Long-Term Control Director, with offices on the 14th floor of the County-City Building stated, In mid to late February of this year, our community, as you know, experienced a flooding emergency of historic proportions. Snow landed on ten(10) of the first(11) eleven(11) days of the month,so we received almost fifteen(15)inches above normal amounts. In fact,almost thirty (30) inches fell by February 17th, and that was before the rain came. INTEGRITY1 SERVICE1 ACCESSIBILITY JENNIFER M.CoFeMAN BiANcA L.THLAnO Jos.R Mo— CHIEF DEPuTV/DIIIECTOR OF OPERATIONS DE�/DmEcroR OF POLIcsr ORDINANCE VIOLATION CLERIC EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Blvd.I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.92211 f 574.235.9173 1 www.southbendin.gov ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK He continued,The rain that we saw set all-time records for the month of February. In that transition from rain to snow, temperatures rapidly rose, and by February 20th, the temperature was greater than sixty degrees Fahrenheit(60°F). He went on, The resulting flood was different from previous experiences, as it manifested itself in just a few neighborhoods, as opposed to more City-wide. The real effect wasn't felt until days later when the river crested at a historic peak of twelve point seven (12.7) feet. On Februgy 22, 2018 the United States Geological Survey showed a peak flow of 25,300 cubic feet per second at the Niles Gauge, meaning that a phenomenal 14.5 billion gallons per day passed through the City of South Bend during the worst days of this flood. Mr. Fahey continued, Subsequent to this mass event,the City of South Bend engaged the services of local engineering firm, Lawson Fisher and Associates, to undertake a post flood survey of four (4) of the worst affected areas along the river. The results of that survey will now be presented by Sky Metters, professional engineer, and his team from Lawson Fisher and Associates. Lawson Fisher and Associates' 2018 South Bend Sewer& Flood Study Findings Sky Metters, Lawson Fisher and Associates at 525 W. Washington Avenue, With me to_ni ht are my associates who also worked on this study, Tim Felke and Chelsea Wyatt. Mr. Metters continued, I am going to go through quite a bit of information tonight. What we were tasked with required going through a lot of information, reading through a lot of documents and looking through a lot of surveys. As we go through this,you'll see a lot of the data we were getting back. We put the data into formats where we were able to make assessments and recommendations. I would like to thank the people who helped gather all of that data because it was very helpful. First(1 st) off, I'd like to get into the study objectives. Utilities Committee Chair Teshka interjected, While we are waiting on the projector, I'd like to introduce non-Committee Members of the Common Council. President Tim Scott of the Common Council is here as well. Councilmember Tim Scott stated, Thanks. We had some flooding issues in the first (1St) district as well. Mr. Metters continued with the study objectives they were tasked with. The first (1St) objective was to take a look at and investigate the infrastructure in four (4) areas that had quite a bit of flooding along the river. We surveyed the residents regarding the flooding to see what the residents were actually going through during those events, and researched how the systems in those areas operated during this historic event. Then we were to identify possible programs and projects that may benefit these projects based on the data we were able to see. He continued, The areas we were tasked with reviewing are the Emerson Avenue area to the southeast, and as you go up, the Riverside area which we're calling South of Bartlett (that's the area just south of the north pumping station). As you go up downstream of the river you have the North Shore Triangle area,then the Keller Park area. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Bvld ISouth Bend,Indiana 46601 p574.235.9221 (574.235.9173',TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 2 r�CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK He went on,I wanted to give some background on the river that runs through our city. I remember my boss,John Fisher always saying,the St. Joseph River is a good river. I don't know if his mind has changed, he does live in South Bend. He said it is a good river because it doesn't flood as much as other rivers do in other states. He explained, The total drainage area is about 4,800 square miles. That in itself is roughly three (3)to four(4)times the size of Rhode Island, so it's draining a lot of area. It is about two-hundred (200) miles long, and the slope from Hillsdale Michigan where it begins, to Lake Michigan is about three (3) feet per mile. One(1)of the other things I want to point out is that there are twelve (12) dams along the length of the river. Of those twelve (12), there are several that are under Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulations. Of those that are under this jurisdiction, the dams along the river were originally built for power. They weren't built for flood mitigation or recreation, but a lot of them have turned into that. Those that produce power are regulated, and they have to have a license through the Federal Regulatory Commission. As part of that license, they are required to maintain a water surface elevation upstream of their dam, of an envelope of roughly six (6) inches. He continued,There was a lot of talk while the flooding was going on as to why these dams weren't holding back water, and why they were letting out water. What those structures were doing was operating per their FERC requirements. That means water is coming in, and they have to let that much water out. That is something that is usually part of 401 Water Quality Certification that is put on them by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. That is the way that a lot of the environmental agencies have had these dams go, so they don't really have the ability to be used as flood control. They have to operate within their license, unless they get to the point where they can't pass any more water. Then the water just continues to rise. Those dams were operating within their FERC license. He went on, On the next slide (referencing the presentation which is available in the City Clerk's Office), we want to get into the storm events. We've talked a lot about snow fall, temperature, rain fall and those things, but I want to touch on how the February event truly happened, and try to relate that to some other flood events we've seen. Flooding and storm events are very odd things. No event tends to be the same as another. Rain can fall in one(1)area and it be totally dry in another. We deal with that quite a bit in this part of the state. He continued, If you look around areas of the country, like areas along the coast, one (1) of the worst things that can happen is a hurricane. The storm surge could be one (1) of the worst things that happen to them. People who live in mountainous regions worry about storms coming in and stalling and dumping water into one(1) spot. We worry about what happened in February as water resource engineers. We get a lot of snow falling, a lot on the ground, the ground is saturated, and temperatures start to warm up,then we get a lot of rain. Those tend to be the storms that we worry about as our worst-case scenarios in this part of the country. He went on,In February,the first ten(10)of eleven(11)days of the month,we saw snowfall. The maximum actual snow pack depth was about fifteen(15) inches. Total snowfall for February was about twenty-nine and a half(29.5)inches,which is fourteen and a half(14.5)inches above normal. So not only did we have a lot of snowfall, we had snowfall that is above normal for the month. This all occurred within the first seventeen (17) days of the month. Based on records from the National Weather Service, it is the seventh (7th) snowiest February that we've had on record. If EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W Jefferson Bvld I South Bend.Indiana 46601 p574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 i www.southbendin.gov 3 0 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK you look at this map (available in the City Clerk's Office), it shows the snowfall prior to when it started to warm up. If you look at the blue, which is indicating anywhere from eight(8)to sixteen (16) inches of snow depth, you can see that it's over the entire St. Joe Watershed Basin, and that was critical. He continued, Then we had precipitation. Temperatures warmed up and we had over eight (8) inches of rain which fell in February, which was an all-time record for the month. The previous record was five (5) inches. Most of that occurred in three (3) days. On February 20th, in one (1) day, we had three point seven five (3.75) inches of rain, which was the new single-season day record. Here we are with record events in snowfall and rainfall, along with temperatures warming up while the ground is saturated. These made for a perfect event for flooding. He described a graph (referencing a slide of a presentation which is available in the City Clerk's Office) which depicted the amount of snowfall, the maximum and minimum temperatures, along with the rainfall. He stated, Storms of this magnitude, and all of these different things falling into place, do not typically occur in any given year. This was a very extreme event, and it is not something you see very often. If you look at it in terms of river level, this was a five hundred (500)year event. If you look at it in terms of flow,we were well beyond a five hundred(500)year event. Mr. Metters, (referencing a slide in the presentation), pointed out that the gauges in other surrounding communities were at or near the record levels for those sites. He stated, If you were watching the storm track of the rain,this storm tracked south to northeast over the entire watershed, which caused a widespread event. South Bend reached the flood record and exceeded it. River levels were point two percent (0.2%) annual chance levels for the five hundred (500) year flood. FEMA uses a percent chance that you are going to get this type of flood. This was about a 2500 year flood. He went on, In August 2016, we had another event. I want to show how different storm events can happen and affect different areas. This was a very tense, low duration event. We had eight point five (8.5)inches of rain fall over a nineteen(19)hour period. This storm event was not even within the top twenty-five (25) historic readings on the South Bend gauge. It was just because of where the rain fell, how it fell, and what was going on within the rest of the watershed. The flow in the river during the 2016 event was about 9,000 cubic feet per second. Storms can be very hard to compare, so you can't just look at the numbers. He continued, The first (1St) thing we did was develop a questionnaire that was available online and was distributed door to door, and we ended up getting back a lot of good information. We asked questions ranging from if people flooded in 2018, if they flooded in 2016, if they flooded during any other events and how often, what was the source of the flooding, if they had backflow prevention devices, and we also asked them to provide comments. Those two hundred (200) responses helped us gain information we couldn't get from the data. He stated, A lot of analysis was done on the areas they were evaluating. In the North Shore Triangle, seven percent (7%) flooded in 2016, nineteen percent (19%) in 2018, and sixty-one percent (61%) flooded in both. Another question asked was whether residents' downspouts have been disconnected. Out of the people surveyed,Keller Park had sixty-six percent(66%)that were, EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601',p 574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 4 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK North Shore Triangle had sixty-four percent (64%), Riverside had fifty percent (50%) and Emerson had sixty percent (60%) disconnected. He went on,(referencing a slide in the presentation).Typically,the water flows from north to south to a thirty-six (36) diameter combined pipe, and there is also CSO thirty-three (33) and thirty-five (35) that provide relief along those areas. He pointed out the estimated flood boundary based on the 2018 flood, and the homes that experienced the 2018 flood. He referred to those that are actually in the one hundred (100) year flood plain (one percent (1%) annual chance flood area), where the river will pop out first whenever the water gets high. He stated, We created a profile looking along the river at this neighborhood, from the Grand Trunk Railroad Crossing to Twykenham. He pointed out the flood line from 2018 and the pipe that feeds that area. He explained,CSO thirty-three(3 3)and CSO thirty-five(3 5)relieve those sewers in those areas when flow gets too high and they were inundated by almost ten (10) feet of water for an extensive duration, possibly a couple of weeks. The river was up so high based on where the elevations are and the CSOs and the outlets, so water just couldn't get out. He continued, There were different levels of responses to how often basements flooded in the different areas. He explained while he pointed out results of the Emerson Avenue survey (referencing a slide in the presentation), It was found that the area has high groundwater that can fluctuate. A large percentage of the residents noted that their downspouts are disconnected, and this helps reduce the flow to the sanitary line sewer, and it also reduces the flow that could get back into their houses. He went on, In the Riverside(South of Bartlett) area,there is a CSO and it travels from southwest to the northeast, and there is a twelve (12) inch throttle pipe that carries flow back into another CSO. CSO ten (10) provides relief to that system. Mr. Metters showed a map of the flooding boundary based on the 2018 event. He explained, Based on the data,the flood boundary matched up with the homes that reported basement and surface flooding. There were several storm water outfalls that were under water for a long time, not allowing the water to get out into the river for an extended period of time. He then reviewed the survey results (referencing a slide in the presentation). He stated, Out of ten (10) responses, none noted that they had any backflow prevention devices installed. This was an area with high ground water. A large percentage of the basement flooding came from cracks in the floors. Most noted that the water was clear,but some noted that there appeared to have some sewage in it. Several residents noted that an earlier notification of some type with some information and instruction may have been helpful during the 2018 event. We compared this information to GIS data. We went out in the field to investigate some areas further. In Riverside, there is a combined area going to one (1) point with a twelve (12) inch throttle. During higher flow areas, it can't handle the amount of water. Some of these pipes are larger in diameter, so we may recommend that be looked at. He continued, Next is the North Shore Triangle area. This area is a separated storm sanitary system,and except for northeast of Hillcrest Road,there is a portion out there that is still combined. Flow travels from northeast to southwest into the eighty-four (84) combined pipe. Eventually it crosses Angela. CSO five (5) and twenty-five (25) give relief along these points. He referred to a map, pointing out the CSO points, storm water outfalls and the river crossing. He stated, The CSO outfall points have backflow devices on them to keep the water from coming back in as it rises. The storm pipes do not have those types of devices on them. Typically, most storm lines that discharge in rivers don't have those types of devices on them. Usually you like to have those EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 5 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK discharges a little higher up. These are lower given the topography out here,you couldn't go much higher with them. Mr. Metters detailed the survey responses in the (referencing a slide in the presentation). He explained,During the less extreme events,there are some potential areas that need to be looked at. The river got up high and flooded the ground surface in the area and brought the ground water up. The primary source of flooding was cracks in the floors and walls. Thirty-five (35) of the one hundred five (105) had backflow prevention devices. Of those, twenty-one (21) noted that they worked properly. I questioned why it was that fourteen(14) didn't work properly. One (1) of the other areas that had major flooding happen, was a private property on which we did a field investigation. The blue lines on the map (referencing a slide in the presentation), represent flow paths. This water is flowing down to the southwest towards the river, and there is a steep area, so it is coming very quick, then the water wants to flow out between some of these residences. That is about forty (40) acres of water that is draining unrestricted. Some of that is county area and some is within the city, and it is a private landowner. He went on,Based on the GIS,we had some areas where there were larger pipes falling into smaller pipes. They were eighteen (18) inch pipes flowing into ten (10) inch pipes. We went out and made sure the GIS was correct and it was. That doesn't necessarily mean that the ten (10) inch is undersized. There was very little flow coming from that larger pipe, and the ten (10) inch could be at a different slope. There are a lot of different variables that go into sewer design. What tends to be missed a lot is that most of the infrastructure we're talking about is under ground. People were worried about the flooding on the surface, and rightfully so. At what point do the pipes in the system reach the elevation of the river? He pointed out a yellow and black line (referencing a slide in the presentation), which shows how far back the sewers were inundated with river water. The whole neighborhood had sewers backed up, and that tended to be the same in the Riverside and Keller Park areas. He continued, Also, the City had crews out shortly after the event, videoing the sewers, sewer pipes and the storm and sanitary lines. We got those videos and went through and rated the pipes. There are some areas, where there was some potential clogging or cracks in the pipe. It might not be the whole line, but the red lines on the map (referencing a slide in the presentation) indicate those possibilities. He then presented the EmNet Data for CSO four (4). He explained, On February 19th, it started to go up. It didn't go back down until May5th. When a storm like this happens, you can't just look at a localized area. It is a system-wide event. This was at capacity. We could have had bigger pipes in some areas, but there would still have been nowhere for the water to go, because the storm has exceeded the capacity of the network. He went on, Less than fifty percent (50%) noted having backflow prevention devices, and there was only a small percentage that stated that they worked. There are several reasons why they may not have worked. Several residents from this area also noted that earlier notification would have been helpful. A majority of the pipes within this area had been televised, which provided an opportunity for us to look at those pipes. There were some parts that appeared partially obstructed to flow. We noted the ten(10) inch pipe, the heavy flow and flooding from the area north of the residences, and that there are several storm outlets along the river in the North Shore Triangle area. None of those outlets are outfitted with backflow prevention devices. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 J p 574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567I www.southbendin.gov 6 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK He continued,Keller Park has a combined sewer that typically flows southwest to northeast. CSO two (2)provides relief to this. Keller Park's flood boundary is within the one hundred (100) year flood boundary. Often,you try to avoid people building within those zones. There is a higher risk of those homes flooding, given the FEMA maps. There were quite a few responses to the survey, which are outlined(referencing a slide in the presentation). Of the fourteen(14)backflow devices, eleven(11)were said to have worked great. Again,many saw water enter their basements through a crack in the wall, which has to do with high ground water. Less than fifty percent (50%) of the respondents noted having backflow prevention devices. These devices could have eliminated potential sewer backups into basements. He went on, Given those findings, there are some recommendations that are common between all areas, and others that are site-specific. Of the common recommendations, the City should reevaluate the current design criteria for required storm water management. Our City has design criteria for storm water systems, and it is very much in line with what other municipalities have within the area,but we thought that it might be prudent to look and see if that is enough, given the events that we've been seeing. Another is for the City to continue to offer residents the Basement Valve Program. It tends to be that less than fifty percent (50%) of those that responded had the basement valve in line. Also, we recommend for the homeowners to address the cracking in the basement walls and floors, because it creates an avenue for high ground water to get into them because the groundwater in these areas react so quickly to flooding. Additionally, we suggest the City educate the homeowners in understanding the cause and effect of the basement cracking and the proper techniques that can be applied in those instances. He continued, Other recommendations include to continue the Downspout Disconnection Program to divert runoff away from the sewer system. It keeps it out of the sewer system, but also out of people's homes and basements. It is also something that has to be done by 2020. Homeowners that experience frequent flooding and backup issues outside of the 2016 and 2018 event who see their basement flooding three(3)to four(4)times per year, should look at the possibility of having a lateral inspector. The lateral itself from the home to the sewer is having issues. Also, the City should research the possibility of a notification system for residents, due to residents' concerns. Some said they did get a notification, but they weren't sure where to go for the next step. Also, the videoing of North Shore was very helpful. As part of the routine videoing and cleaning, we recommend that the City place an emphasis on the neighborhoods in this report to get all of those lines videoed and assessed. We believe you may be able to find something in those videos that can help. He went on, FEMA provides grants to purchase homes that are located in flood zones. It is recommended that the City research these requirements and opportunities to see if they are applicable to some of these areas. Some of the areas that are in the one hundred (100) year flood plain, FEMA does have some opportunities there in purchasing some of those homes. We recommend that the City do further research to determine if the ten (10) inch sanitary sewer line along Angela is properly sized for the sanitary flow that is coming from the eighteen (18) inch line. We are also recommending that the City install backflow prevention measures on the storm water outlets to the St. Joseph River within the North Shore Triangle area. This isn't typical, but given the topography of this area, it is something that we recommend. That will keep the storm water from backing up into the system. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building'227W Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.55671www.southbendin.gov CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK He continued, In the Riverside (South of Bartlett) area, we recommend the City evaluates the twelve (12) inch throttle pipe to see if it could possibly be increased to allow more flow to leave the area quicker and maybe provide a little more relief on that CSO within that area. He went on, Another area we've discussed is north of Angela. We recommend to control the runoff of the forty (40) acres north of Angela, getting into conversations with them about ways to control that runoff so it's not causing issues down toward the southwest where there is flooding. Mr.Metters continued,I want to stress the magnitude of the events that we received. That February event was something that is likely to never happen again in my lifetime, and it could happen again next February, that's just the way mother nature works. Based on statistics and probability, there is a low probability that that event would happen in a given year. It was a very extreme event and a lot of things fell into place for it to happen. It wasn't confined to just one (1) neighborhood, it was confined to a whole system. A lot of the recommendations that were made might help during lower magnitude events, but if we were to get another event with the flooding that we just had, and even though our criteria is in line with what other communities are doing, they don't design for these types of floods. Could you do it? Some places you probably couldn't given the barriers that you have. You would be hard pressed to find someone willing to design to that risk factor, which is why FEMA does a lot of things within the one-hundred(100)year flood category. I want to be clear that you can implement some of these recommendations, and still have flooding if you have another five hundred(500)year flood. I would like to thank everyone for their patience, and thank you to everyone who responded to the questionnaires. Committee Chair Teshka stated, We were going to have an update on the CSO, and how their recommendations line up with what you are pursing with the EPA. Committeemember Oliver Davis made a motion to approve the agenda change.Committeemember Susan Soisson seconded this motion which carried unanimously by a voice vote of five (5). Committeemember Oliver Davis asked if there is a time set aside for the second (2"d) meeting. Committee Chair Broden stated,A date will be set and everyone will be notified. Committee Chair Broden then opened the floor to public comment. Public Comment Jeff Jacob, Attorney with Packman Hewitt at 1620 W. Oak Street,Zionsville, IN, stated, With me is Tony Rodolfo from our Indianapolis office. We are here tonight because we have been retained by a number of homeowners and residents in the North Shore Triangle area to look into the sewer and water backflow. I want to be clear that we are talking about back flow and not flooding, from the Combined Sewer System into their homes. First of all, we applaud the City for looking into this issue and continuing to study it, but this is an ongoing issue. Mr. Jacobs continued,In our cursory review of the LFA report, and in consulting with our experts, we were disappointed to hear that there were no significant upgrades to the City sewer system that were recommended. We were further troubled to learn that the sewer utility budget is underfunded to tackle any significant capital improvements to address these problems. We are looking forward EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building!227 W.Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 46601 p574.235.9221 f574.235.9173',TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 8 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK to a dialogue with the City. We would like additional recommendations and solutions to the problem. We were also surprised that there was very little reference to the Smart Sewer System in tonight's presentation. We are interested to know if there were any uncovered design or implementation deficiencies relative to whether EmNet was consulted or just provided data as to whether or not the system worked as designed. We have continued to become concerned about the residents that are lifelong homeowners with a good number of reported backflows since the February 2018 event. One (1) of the areas we are interested in looking at is whether or not this flooding would have been as significant in 2016 or 2018 and ongoing without the Smart Sewer system in place. Thank you, we look forward to working with you. Bruce Harris, 513 W. Angela, stated, The water was described as flowing from the area north of Angela, and that would be the Holy Cross College property which is owned by Notre Dame. The description that it flows down that direction is not accurate. There is a large pipe that comes out of the ground where the drains from the campus all come together and pour a significant amount of water at the hillside which flows down behind the houses on the north side of Angela. This has kept the water table up quite significantly. I started to put a sump pump in my basement at the beginning of March, and at that time, the water table was sitting at the bottom of the concrete at the basement. Since then it has gone down ten(10)inches. It rains up there and then concentrates around the houses. I have a hard time believing that water dumping was set up there with proper permits. I would like that to be looked in to, and it should be piped out to the river, or handled another proper way. Barbara Sutton, 528 Ostemo Pl., stated, I am the president of the North Shore Triangle Neighborhood Association. I am a great believer in climate change, so two (2) events in two (2) years, I find it hard to believe that it is not going to happen again in the next ten(10) years. There was a flood in 1985,2016,and 2018. One of my concerns is that a lot of folks in the neighborhood don't have the $10,000-15,000 it costs to dig out around our house to remediate, but we could perhaps do something else with the walls or the cracks if we had more information. At our meeting in March,we asked if there could possibly be some workshops put on to help the neighbors do low cost, do it yourself projects in case of another flood. We are not all quite back to normal yet, I'm still hauling stuff out of my garage and working on my basement. A lot of my neighbors are doing the same. It's been a very painful process for us and we need continued support to get our work done. Mary Wood,620 W. Angela, stated,I have owned my home and lived there for twenty-seven(27) years. In noticing the images toni ht, the red lines for the sewers that were imaged, I feel like it was our neighborhood, through vociferous and local distress, that caused this study to be done. I am wondering why the City is not regularly maintaining,imaging,cleaning out and repairing these lines,because they don't look like they are being well-maintained. Regarding the extreme events, I understand that there are times when things are way too big for things you have in place, but inches matter. I had over three (3) feet of flooding in my basement. If it had been a few inches, I wouldn't have had to replace the furnace and appliances. If it had been three (3) more inches it would have gotten into my circuit breaker and into the electricity. The power would have had to be cut and my pets and I would have had to leave our home. All the small things count. Right not I am saving up to get the$12,000 french drain system. I am doing everything I can,and I'm asking you to do everything you can even if they're small things. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.JeffersonBvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 TTD574.235.55671www.southbendin.gov 9 ®CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Larry Miller, 1109 Culver Place, stated, I worked for the Sewer Department for seventeen (17) years, but I can tell you that the sewers are in bad shape in the City of South Bend. The sewer that runs in front of my house is concrete, but it is deteriorating due to the chemicals running through our sewer lines. There are rocks falling down that are as big as baseballs. Roosevelt Street has a flat sewer line. We've reported it, took pictures of it over and over. When you put new material over old material, it weakens the old material. When you connect new pipes to old pipes, it weakens them. The lines are all bad. I've complained and talked about it, but it got me nowhere. Seven(7)or eight(8)years ago,I was told that we have$7,000 to come work on these lines. What happened to the money? They were supposed to hire a firm out of Chicago. One(1)of these days a school bus.is going to go down that street and its going to cave in. Larry Cook was my boss at the time, Sam Hensley was the Commissioner. They didn't believe us that it was going to cave in. They paved Main Street, then it caved in and they had to redo it all over again. Councilmember Tim Scott stated,Representing Riverside Drive and Keller Park,what we saw was not only cracks with clear water coming in, but there was black sewage in every home in Keller Park. Everyone I talked to had that issue. I am a true believer in Global Warming. I lived in St. Louis in 1993 during the flood, moved here in 1994 and they've had two (2) events down there that were just as big as 1993. If we have to put flapper valves on the pipes to the river, I suggest that. I do want to make the chairs aware that we have an event going on along Portage Avenue from Oakwood to Riverside. From the rains we've had in the last two (2) weeks, we have sewer backing up into homes of people who have lived there for thirty-eight (38) years and are now having issues. They are coming out to start looking at cleaning those lines. It's a trend. It's not only running down Portage, but it is on Oakwood and Riverside. I am still on top of that and working with the City. That is on very high ground, so there are some instances where we need to stay on top of our sewers and look at it. Councilmember Tim Scott left the meeting at 7:30 p.m. Dawn Hopkins,558 Marquette Avenue, stated,I want to state for the record that I have great pause about your backflow program, knowing the percentage of backflow valves that absolutely failed in the 2018 event. I would not have spent my money on a backflow valve if I had known that I would be doing the same thing eighteen(18)months later. I felt it was a horrible waste of money, and I felt betrayed by my investment. I thought we would be safe, we won't have sewage in our house. We rebuilt and won't have to do this again. No, we had the same groundwater issue again, coming into our toilet. We did not quite have the three (3) foot geyser coming out of our toilet that we had in 2016. It was just spilling over the edge. At least it filtered the water enough that it was brown water rather than chunks of feces in our basement. Some of our neighbors had three (3)feet,we had about eighteen(18)inches. Still,if it is ground water,it's one thing,if it is sewage, it's another. This is a detriment to our public health and our riverways, and I want us to address the sewer system for the betterment of public health, and for the betterment of the ecology of the St. Joe River. Laura Klepper, 645 Ostemo Pl., stated, Thank you to the Committee for allowing us to speak. I am a scientist and I had the water levels in our basement tested. It had E.coli levels that were high enough to beyond shut down beaches. They were about twenty (20) times higher than what the limit would be for safe water for swimming, and that was in my basement water. I want to echo what a couple people have said here already about climate change. As a scientist it is not about believing in climate change, it is about facts and evidence,but we won't get into politics here. The EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY 1 INNOVATION ' INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building227W.JeffersonBvld South Bend.Indiana 466011P574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 1TD574.235.5567',www.southbendin.gov 10 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said what we are calling historic events are no longer historic. They are not going to be occurring every five hundred(500)years,they are going to be occurring every ten(10) or twenty(20)years. We really need to stop using this terminology in saying that these are extreme events, and consider how this is going to impact our community moving forward. The World Health Organization has stated that the CSOs are an extreme concern with what we expect of our changing climate, and make a recommendation with climate change that communities begin to transfer away from combined sewer overflow systems. As a scientist, I believe in quantifiable data. I have a few questions for LFA about the eighteen(18)inch and ten (10) inch pipe. There was discussion of how much flow would be needed if this was actually overwhelmed. I encourage the City to get that information so we can make that decision. Also, I would like to know how they decided what lines would be red. How many interruptions/ obstructions it took to classify those. Also, it was hard to tell if all of the North Shore Triangle lines were inspected, or if it was just a few. I'd like to see that full map available to us. Finally, I just got the report right before the start of the meeting. Not mentioned in the presentation was the sediment covering CSO five (5). It was buried by sediment and the comment was made that it might be impeding its ability to operate. I'd like more information about that. Also, my understanding is that in order for the City to be in compliance with the EPA, we are supposed to have regular maintenance and inspection of our sewer system. I am wondering why it took this extreme event to have these inspections, and why we don't have routine inspections and maintenance of our sewer systems. Helen Plencner, 2145 Englewood Place, stated, I've lived at this residence for fifty (50)years. In fifty (50) years, I have never had a flood in my basement except for 2016, February of 2018, and a few weeks ago. It has only been about two (2)inches of water, so I am fortunate that I have not had the same experience as others in this room have had. But whether it is two (2) inches or two (2) feet, it is still a hardship. It just seems to be that I live on a corner, and each of the houses on all four (4) corners have experienced the same thing, but yesterday evening, I walked down the street to pass out flyers about this meeting, and nobody else on the rest of my street seemed to have the problem. I'm curious why four (4) corners had that problem, but nobody else on the rest of the street did. Thank you. Trisha Eastbay, 1118 Academy Pl., stated, I've been there about twenty-three (23) years, and my basement floods every year at least two (2)to three (3)times per year. I'm about three(3)houses from Riverside, and I've noticed that water flows down our street and it hits the drain outside of my house and it just starts backing up into my basement. I own a pool pump and I pump water out regularly, and I don't even use my basement anymore. I think it is most of us on that end of the block, I don't think the rest of the block has that problem. I did not fill out the questionnaire. I'll make sure all of my neighbors fill it out if we get another survey. Jason Kenteck, 2201 Riverside, stated, I've lived there for thirteen (13)years and we've only had two (2) experiences of non-hundred-year incidents. We've had one (1) inch of rain and we got backflow into our basement. I think that our wastewater treatment facility might be in jeopardy too, because if we are so high up on Riverside and Oakwood, downstream we can do everything we want and change everything out, but if we don't fix it at the source, it literally runs downhill. When we called the first (11� time, the worker that came out acted like this is all brand new to them. I think it is disrespectful and insulting to be told by certain people that this is all new news to them. In regard to the backflow, where we are, we're told that we have one (1) of the largest drains right out in front of us, and if that's backing up and the wastewater treatment plant can't EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION i INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1 227 W.Jefferson Bvld!South Bend,Indiana 46601 p574.235.9221 f574.235.9173.TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 11 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK take that, the amount of pressure that is being put on the backflow preventer, that might not even work for us because they are having such high pressure coming back. We were also told that backflow preventers are not warrantied or guaranteed for sewage backup. So,a backflow preventer does us no good for this instance. Christian Carlson, 2207 Riverside Drive, stated, I do not live in the floodplain. We're high on a hill by Oakwood. We moved in July 2001 and had no floods until 2016. We had three (3) floods with clear water with sewage in it. We addressed it and remediated it with our insurance company. I had our downspouts disconnected, I put wider gutters on the back of my house, and I applied for a backflow preventer, but did not end up installing it after working with the plumber at that time because it would be a large investment to help in an unlikely event. Every time it rained in 2017, we woke up and ran downstairs, and had no incidents. In 2018,the day before we left on summer vacation, we had black sewage in our basement. I came back from my vacation four (4) times to deal with that. Then, a couple weeks ago, the water alarm went off and black water sewage is floating by my feet. It drained back out, the sewer guy came out and said the line was fine. He checked it at the end of the alley, because he can't find the manhole covers in our alley to check behind my house where they're supposed to be. It is dirt, but somewhere it says they are paved. We have to call the City every year to grade the alley, so they were probably graded over. I was able to find the other one (1)for him so he was able to check it,but by then it had all flowed away. We received another quote to get another system different from the backflow preventer. The first (I") quote we got this y says, if any of these twenty-seven (27) things are in the water coming back, it will not work. It is also not guaranteed to prevent sewage. This is not about just the loss of items, it is about the loss of our home. We have a 1000 square foot room where we entertain and we live and our kids play that we can't use. My wife has asthma, and she can't be in the house when these things happen, so we have to stay at a friend's house or a hotel. I am concerned about the Smart Sewer System. If it is because we live so close to the water treatment plant, I'm also questioning why the downspout disconnection is optional. If we know that that's a problem, why are we not making that mandatory? The North Shore Triangle data showed that thirty-five (35) people had backflow preventers,and twenty-one(2 1)worked. That is a forty percent(40%)failure rate; that's not good. We need to have a better option when we are trying to keep sewage out of our basements. I just want to be able to sleep at night when it rains, and know that someone else's poop will not be in my basement. I've spoken to Mr.Fahey and others in the City, and I appreciate them listening. Committee Chair Teshka asked Mr.Fahey if the Downspout Disconnection Program is mandatory. Mr. Fahey responded, Yes, it is mandatory. Brian Prophet,422 Marquette Avenue, stated, I'd like to thank the Council for paying attention to this. I am echoing a lot of concerns here. I did want to add my voice to the chorus about some sort of notification system, especially for the areas of the sewer that are being monitored closely. I think transparency of data is key here. Obviously, I can't imagine a system where everybody would be willing to put some sort of notification that they're having some sort of sewer issues in their basement. I'm just now hearing tonight about Portage which is not too far from North Shore Triangle and I am concerned. Ideally, we don't want this stuff coming up in our basement, but if we had a notification that it is an issue and we should check our basement, there are ways we can manually correct the situation. I would like the City to look into a fast warning system either by text or whatever, to warn us that issues are coming down the line. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION ! INCLUSION ! EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 TTD574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 12 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK Al Kirsits, 722 Marquette Avenue, And also owns a home at 723 Marquette Avenue, stated, I was an At-Large Council Member from 2000-2012 and chaired the Utilities Committee. It was during my time on the Council that we doubled the sewage rate and passed the largest bond issue in history of$88 million for infrastructure work so we wouldn't have these issues. It is dire straits in the North Shore Triangle. For my family, it wasn't one (1) event, it has been a series of events. I can look at the storm sewer and tell on a moderate rain if I'm going to have sewage in my mother's house across the street. Clearly we haven't kept up with our infrastructure improvement. I appreciate Lawson Fisher. I would like to know about the fifty-one(5 1)inch CSO pipe that comes down Leeper Avenue. We also have a CSO coming from the south side past the Leeper Park area that crosses the river. They said it is a separated system, it is not. Maybe it is. But how can you have that much storm water pressure get into the sewers and it literally exploded my mom's trap. I know five (5) people who have the backflow preventers and they all failed. I personally used a solid oak hazmat plug. Somehow we are getting too much water and too much pressure. Somewhere that storm water is infiltrating the sewer and putting pressure on it, so we have to do something. That CSO that takes the water down Leeper was done in 2007. It was my impression we were going to get improvements next in our neighborhood. I am concerned about sanitary capacity coming down the ten(10)inch line from Notre Dame. We need to look at it and put some money into it. It's a good neighborhood and I hate to see it go down the tubes. I've been allowed to appeal my property taxes,because they know there is going to be sewage water in the basement, and that's not a good thing for resale or for people living there on a day to day basis. We had major flooding in 2000 in McKinnley Terrace. Karl King took it seriously. Please take it seriously and get some help for these neighborhoods so we don't have to worry every time it rains. Committee Chair Teshka asked if the gentlemen from LFA or Public Works would like to respond to any of the public's comments. Mr. Fahey stated, Specific recommendations were made by LFA. These include the City evaluating the current design criteria for determining sewer capacity and storm water storage. While the City's criteria is in line with other municipalities, given recent storms and events, the evaluation of existing criteria seems appropriate. We are in agreement with this finding. Currently, new storm lines are designed for an occurrence of every ten (10) years and duration of six (6) hours, and the proposal would be to increase the occurrence for a twenty-five(25)year storm over a duration of twenty-four (24) hours. The City should continue to offer the basement valve program. The City should be part of the route videoing, cleaning and repairing of South Bend's sewer system, and it is suggested that the City place particular emphasis on the neighborhoods featured in this report. For example, in the North Shore Triangle area, four(4) full time members of the sewer crew were in the neighborhood from March until Jul this year. They videoed 30,000 feet of sewer lines, so that is almost five and a half(5.5) miles. There has also been ongoing cleaning, so some of the information that was presented today has been improved since it was gathered, and we will maintain this approach in this and other neighborhoods included in this report. He continued, The City researched the possibility of a notification system along multiple media platforms to provide residents with notifications and information about direct flooding events. We've started to work with the United States Geological Survey and the Army Corps of Engineers. We're coming up with a mechanism where we would be able to know specifically per each address in town,how much rainfall is expected, and then we would be able to apply this to a model and it EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building',227W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 i f574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 iwww.southbendin.gov 13 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK would be available on a public website. This way you will know what to expect based on the weather forecast for the upcoming days. That is in motion. He went on, In certain circumstances, FEMA provides grant assistance to purchase homes within particular flood zones. The City should research the requirements and ascertain the applicability of South Bend. We are also in agreement with this, especially in the more frequently flooded areas that were mentioned mostly in Emerson and Riverside and the Emerson Park area. If there is desire and interest among the residents, the City will work with FEMA and residents on that. He continued, The City should evaluate the twelve (12) inch throttle pipe in the Riverside Drive (South of Bartlett) area to see if it could be increased to allow more flow to leave the area quicker. The effect on the downstream system could be evaluated along with the actual impact on the Riverside area. I, along with Eric Horvath, Director of Public Works, met with the company who do the Smart Sewer work in relation to this, to investigate this further. We do believe that an additional line may be advantageous, and that project is being commenced. The City further researched to determine whether the ten(10) inch sewer along Angela was appropriately sized for the sanitary flow it conveys. This is an issue where we have an eighteen (18) inch pipe flowing into the ten (10) inch pipe. The findings of the day were a snapshot in time. It looked like what was in that ten(10)inch pipe was not over capacity. We are proposing a longer-term study,where we'll put sensors in the pipe, so we don't just have a one (1) day image. That will help us answer definitively what the cause and solution is to that problem. He went on, The City has discussed options to control runoff from the private landowners of the forty (40) acres that is contributing storm water runoff to the area north of Angela. I've been in communication with Notre Dame and we will continue to engage with those stakeholders to find a solution. He continued,Another recommendation is for the City to install backflow prevention measures on the storm water outlets on the St. Joseph River within the North Shore Triangle. There are storm flows at the corners where Lafayette meets North Shore, where Iroquois meets North Shore and where Parkovash meets North Shore. Those are all approximately thirty-six(36)inch storm lines. It is possible that those act as a pathway for the river to intrude back into the neighborhood when the river rises. I have been researching solutions to this, and looking at the installation of a backflow valve, a mechanism where water can only go in one(1) direction. It is common practice in relation to CSO pipes,but it is not necessarily a common practice when it comes to storm sewers, but it could be advantageous here. I want to assure the residents that these recommendations are being set into motion. Councilmember Oliver Davis stated, Thank you for your report, but with all due respect, we need that in writing. My concern is that I don't want us to rush to say that we did all of this. Let's just soak in what he just said, and we'll see what recommendations you have shared, and what recommendations the City has already done. Let's look at all of the recommendations that you are needing to do. You'll need to put it in your 2019 budget. Whatever it takes to do this, if you have to readjust your numbers for that, then readjust your numbers. We have to see what we can do in all of these different areas. Let's look at what we have done and what we need to do. I do believe in the concept of climate change. I believe this could happen next year, and we have to plan like that. The attorney, your recommendations you have come with, I don't know where the litigation is, but if you can share those key recommendations that you want to make sure you have in the EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY 1 INNOVATION 1 INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567www.southbendin.gov 14 CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK budget, with our attorney here, I would like to reassess our budget, I would like to make sure we have at least covered those major issues. Some things we can settle as we fix the budget rather than in court. I think that it's great that they went ahead and got somebody who is an expert, who can bring all of these kinds of things together like you. I think we can all put this together during budget time. Eric,with your budget, anything that needs to be increased to work on this, it makes sense for us to support it. This is a huge crisis, with more rain to come. If there is a desire for us to work with FEMA,there is a desire. There is a desire for us to finish this whole situation. Thank you for coming so we can keep this high on the list. Get all of your questions to Public Works and copy my colleagues so we can make sure we've pinpointed your concerns inside of this budget. If our budget is not reflecting your needs, it's worthless. Committee Chair Broden stated, Our plan is to schedule a follow up meeting after doing more homework. Thank you to everyone. This is a critical time in terms of our budget season. I want to see a show of hands of how many people were present the other night at the budget session for Public Works. She stated that there were a few people. She continued, We will work with Public Works and the Clerk's Office to make sure everything from that meeting and this meeting will be available to the public on our website. Committee Chair Teshka stated, We're not even done with Public Works' budget. There is so much packed into it that we have to have a follow up meeting on that alone. We have a lot of time left on the budget process. Please know that we hear you, and this is a priority for us, especially as we move through the budget process this year. We're going to do everything we can over the coming weeks to make sure that this issue is addressed in whatever way is feasible. Thank you to everyone who has done a lot of legwork to get us here. We have a lot of work to do, but we hear you and we're here for you. Feel free to get ahold of us at any time with questions and concerns. Thank you. With no further business, Committee Chair Teshka adjourned the Health and Public Safety Committee meeting at 7:58 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Jo M. Broden, Health and Public Safety Committee Chair Respectfully Submitted, r i Jake Teshka, Utilities Committee Chair EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227W Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 I p 574.235.9221 f574.235.9173 TI"D574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 15