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Bexley staff say earlier sewer study left gaps; city will re-prioritize repairs
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Summary
City staff told council that a 2009'2014 sewer system evaluation relied on incomplete, outdated data, missed wet-weather monitoring and omitted records—leading the city to pursue targeted repairs and a new 10-year prioritized construction and capital plan.
City staff on Tuesday told the Bexley City Council that the sewer system evaluation study the city relied on in the last decade contains important methodological gaps and that those gaps help explain continuing basement flooding and sanitary overflows.
The council heard a multi-part presentation from public-works staff explaining that the 2009'2014 sewer system evaluation (SSES) and the associated 26-year improvement plan used outdated baseline flow data, split monitoring into separate phases years apart and did not capture the wet-weather conditions that lead to most inflow-and-infiltration (I&I) problems. "They used a 10-year-old study... they did not use wet weather patterns," the service-team presenter said, citing comparisons with data collected last summer.
Why it matters: The staff said the older study guided recommendations for large, costly "relief" sewers and underground storage that were expensive, politically difficult and—crucially—did not focus on reducing household I&I. "Some of those recommendations were so cost prohibitive and exorbitant," the mayor said in the presentation, adding that relief storage would not necessarily reduce the underlying inflow and infiltration that causes basement backups.
Staff described several specific problems uncovered during new field work: CCTV coverage covered only a portion of the system in the prior reports, survey maps were incomplete or inaccurate, and manual inspections found several illegal private connections (for example on Ashbourne and Ashbourne Place) where sanitary lines had been hooked to storm lines. "We found illegal connections... we were able to correct it," a service-team member said, describing on-the-ground repairs made after the manual inspections.
City engineers also recounted finds from closed-circuit inspections that underscore the system's age and complexity: debris ranging from soccer balls to gas lines and, occasionally, items that were startling to crews. The presenters said the incomplete previous record and mismatched data have led staff to deviate from the original DFFO-driven plan: rather than follow every large recommendation, staff have prioritized targeted lining and repairs that local field evidence shows will reduce basement flooding.
Next steps: Council was told staff will produce a clearer 10-year prioritized construction road map and capital-spend plan for council review at a future meeting. That plan, they said, will be designed to target the highest-impact I&I reductions rather than default to storage-focused projects.
Quotations in context: "We are making these investments somewhat blind," the presenter said, urging a recalibrated approach grounded in up-to-date, wet-weather monitoring and comprehensive CCTV surveys.
What comes next: Staff committed to bring back a prioritized 10-year construction and spending plan with clearer budgets and milestones for council approval. The council asked for examples of where lining work had reduced basement flooding and for more precise budget estimates before the next decision.
Ending: Council members praised the thoroughness of the new field work and emphasized the need for the forthcoming plan to prioritize projects that demonstrably reduce basement flooding rather than only satisfy compliance with past plans.
