You've heard about sewer backups, it's an awful mess, but what, if one happens to you? What should you do? First? Well, that's easy call us at two, nine, seven, three, three, three four we'll be there as soon as possible, but when it's your house, that's flooding with sewer water, we know it's never fast enough. There is one simple thing you can do to ease the problem before we get there, locate the clean-out for your sewer line and pull the cap or cover off. This should eliminate the sewer from backing up in your home or business.

The clean-out is usually in the back of your house or business. Go ahead and pull the caps. If you don't know where the caps are find out now, just in case, you need them in the future.

When the repair crew arrives, they'll locate the problem, it will either be in the city's main or your private sewer line. If the problem is in the city's line, we'll fix it as soon as possible. Our goal is to take care of the problem within two hours. If the blockage is in your private sewer line, we'll let you know so, you can call a plumber now I bet you're wondering who pays the plumber. Well, unfortunately, you do we're only allowed to repair the mains owned by the city. Here's the official reason.

State law prohibits us from spending public funds on private property. I know that's not comforting when there's a sewer mess in your house, so the city has developed a program to help with the cleanup, the customer assistance program or CA P cap. It's a free service. If the backup is due to a stoppage in the city sewer lines, a cap crew will be one of the first responders to your emergency. They use a wet vacuum to get rid of the standing water, pull up, soiled carpet, mop floors and disinfect the impacted areas.

They make sure your home doesn't pose health risks to you or your family. We hope we never have to send a cap crew to your house, but just in case the sewer backup happens at your home. Don't panic we'll be on our way to help.