All the rain that fell last month may be good news for those with new lawns or landscaping. But for some residents of West Chicago, enough was enough.
Residents of the 500 block of Harrison Street appeared before the City Council this week, asking what could be done about the constant flooding of their basements. They said the flooding is partly due to a sewer at the end of the street they believe might be blocked or partially collapsed.
“I’ve lived here three years, and there have been water problems the entire time,” said Al Aravena, who lives near the corner of Harrison and Norris Avenue, where neighbors say the flooding is greatest.
“Most people come home from work, take a shower, eat dinner and relax,” Aravena said. “Whenever it rains, I have to go down and work in the basement.”
Neighbor Don Garrison said his home has been plagued with water problems for 15 years and that calls to the city’s Water and Street Departments have not produced any results.
“I’m not sure why nothing has been done. Maybe they [the Water Department] don’t think that many people have this problem,” Garrison said. “I’ve gone through two sump pumps in 10 years. I’ve actually had water in the washing machine and dryer. These houses were built in the 1940s and there’s no drain tile. I have actually seen the water bubbling up through the concrete.”
Todd Youkman said he told his alderman, Ruben Pineda, about the problem a year ago.
“I thought for a while it was just my house. I had no idea the flooding might have something to do with the sewer,” Youkman said. “I tried some of the usual remedies, like downspout extensions, but then I started noticing a truck would come out to the corner after a heavy rain. I wondered about all the energy they were expending.”
Mayor Steven Lakics told residents that the cause of the problem would be investigated within the next two weeks.
“Normally, we don’t respond to residents during the public participation portion of these meetings, but in this case, we’re going to make an exception,” Lakics said. “We intend to put a TV camera into that sewer and hopefully provide pictures to show what’s going on.”
Ken Dean, director of public works, said, “There is a 10-inch line there, but we don’t know what’s happening until we get a television line in there and look at the whole thing.
“We want to fix this right the first time. We don’t know if there is a tree root blocking something or a collapse or pinch in the line,” Dean said. “We’re glad the residents brought this to our attention. Once we see what is there, we’ll know if we should repair it or make a design change.”
Dean said he hoped to determine the cause of the problem by the end of next week and added that a simple repair could be completed by the end of the month.
