Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.
Nothing like a puddle of sewage to greet you after a good day's work.
Raw sewage and storm water backed up Wednesday into about a half-dozen homes and businesses in Carter Lake and east Omaha, said Craig Christians, manager of the sewer maintenance division for the City of Omaha.
Recent thunderstorms combined with near-flood stage levels of the Missouri River led to the overflow, Christians said.
Because the Missouri is so high, he said, the city can't pump sewage to the river from an outlet pipe near the Qwest Center Omaha.
Hard rain Tuesday night pushed the sewers to capacity.
The area that uses that outlet pipe is bounded roughly by the Storz Expressway, the North Freeway, Interstate 480 and the Missouri River.
Property owners most likely to find sewage in their homes live in the plain near the river.
Christians said Carter Lake has its own sewer maintenance station that pumps into Omaha's system.
He said people with sewage in their basements should call the City of Omaha's 24-hour sewage backup line at 444-5332.
To reduce these type of backups, the city is replacing its combined sewers in dozens of neighborhoods east of 72nd Street over the next 15 years.
The sewer separations and related improvements will cost about $1.6 billion.
Contact the writer:
444-1304, news@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
