What a mess imagine raw sewage spilling out of your toilet or bathtub? It's a stinky nasty mess called a sewer backup and it can happen when you least expect it like on the weekend or Thanksgiving Day or even while you're on vacation. The good news is that most sewer backups can be prevented. If you avoid the common culprits, the number one cause of backups, grease and fat. When you pour grease and fats down your sink, they form a hard clog in the sewer lines, kind of like what they do in your arteries. Grease and water.

Don't mix so running hot water and using the garbage disposal won't prevent fat, clogs or backups keep your drains fat free, dispose of meats, grease and oils in the trash instead of the sink another common problem, roots roots search for water and will grow towards cracks and sewer lines when roots grow inside the pipe they clog.

The line and waste water won't flow away from the house as well as it should so plant trees and shrubs away from sewer lines, other troublemakers, sump pumps, French drains and other flood control systems that are connected to the city sewer lines. First, it's illegal, plus the debris and silt they create will clog your line. A plumber can undo illegal connections and help prevent a sewer backup in your home.

Those suggestions help prevent backups, but there is one sure fix a backflow preventor. It's installed on your private sewer line and prevents wastewater from backing up and entering your property.

If a clog stops the flow from continuing down the pipes, the water has no place to go with the wrong direction back towards your house, but if a backflow preventer is installed and water starts, backing up, the valve closes stopping the sewage from going any further backwards and entering your house structures most at risk of backups are those in older, neighborhoods or those that are downhill from the nearest manhole. If your home is a borderline risk, installing a backflow preventor is a good precautionary measure.

And speaking of manholes, sometimes crews find cinder blocks, limbs construction, materials and other large items that have been illegally dumped in a manhole. These items cause blockage and damage to the pipes. If you see or know of someone dumping junk in a manhole, please call us at two nine seven, three, three three four.

Also call us any time at the first sign of a problem such as a slow running drain before the sewer backs up. Crews are on duty seven days a week from 7:00 a.m. to midnight and on-call 24/7 for water emergencies will come check it out and let you know if the problem is on your private lines or in the city's mains. We can't work on private sewer lines, but we can work with you to prevent sewer backups from happening in your home.

You do your part and we'll do our best to keep the city's 2600 miles of pipe line. Clear and waste water flowing away from your house and toward the wastewater treatment plants.