City of Redwood Falls to pay for televised sewer system searches

This spring, the City of Redwood Falls is starting its planned three-year project to prevent excess storm water and snow melt from overwhelming the city’s sewer systems. When the stormwater and sanitary sewer systems get completely flooded, peoples’ basements back up and flood, and the city water treatment facility sometimes sends untreated sewage directly into the river.

Part of the city’s project involves sending a probe, connected to a television camera, to inspect buildings’ sanitary sewer lines. The goal: see if homes and businesses are sending stormwater into the city’s sanitary sewer system during heavy rain events or snowmelts. Anything the city can do to reduce stormwater going into the sanitary sewers will help basements from flooding, and prevent untreated sewage from going into the river.

Redwood Falls City Administrator Keith Muetzel stated how the process works:

In order to keep costs down for the home or business owners, the Redwood Falls City Council agreed at a previous meeting for the city to pay the costs of doing the televised searches. This past Tuesday, the council voted to send out bid requests to plumbing and sanitary sewer businesses who can do the work:

According to Muetzel, there are approximately 2,300 sanitary service connections in Redwood Falls homes and businesses, which is why the process is expected to take three years, most likely starting this March or April.

For more information, contact Redwood Falls City Hall.