Scranton Water Damage / Sewer and floor drain backups
Sewer and floor drain backups in Scranton
In a lot of Scranton cellars, the floor drain is the lowest opening into the sewer. When a heavy rain fills the system, that is where the water comes back up. It is a mix of storm water and sewage, and it has to be cleaned like sewage.
Why it happens in heavy rain
Scranton and Dunmore are on a combined sewer. Storm water from streets and roofs and sewage from houses run in the same pipes. Pennsylvania American Water bought the system from the Scranton Sewer Authority in 2016, and it serves about 30,000 customers in the two towns.
In a hard rain, the pipes fill. The city explains that regulators then open to release the extra flow to the Lackawanna River and its creeks, to protect homes and the system. When the system is overloaded, water can push back up the lowest drains it finds. In older houses, that is the cellar floor drain.
PAW is partway through a 25-year plan of about 60 projects to cut those overflows. It includes storage tanks that hold storm flow until the system can take it. One holds a million gallons under the tennis courts at the University of Scranton. Another holds 700,000 gallons on the West Side, and a 780,000-gallon tank at Green Ridge Plaza was scheduled to be finished by the end of 2025. They help the system as a whole, but a single cellar can still back up in a hard storm.
Curious what a job like this runs? Five quick questions give you a ballpark range.
Try the cost calculatorThe standpipes around old foundations
The city points out something specific to older Scranton houses. In many of them, the gutters and downspouts empty into cast iron standpipes set around the foundation, and those standpipes connect straight to the house sewer. In a house set up that way, the rain off your roof goes into your own sewer line, right when the street sewer is already full.
Under PAW's rules, downspouts, sump pumps, footing drains, and window well drains are not allowed to connect to the sanitary sewer. If your house still has them tied in, a plumber can tell you what it would take to separate them.
Your line or theirs
PAW owns the sewer main in the street or easement. The sewer service line from the property line to the house, and all the plumbing inside, belong to the owner. That includes roots that grow into the line. If the backup happens on a dry day when only your house runs water, the problem is probably in your line. If it happens in a storm, or the neighbors have it too, it is probably the system. PAW's 24-hour line is 1-800-565-7292.
Some homeowners have a plumber put a backwater valve on the line, which closes when sewage tries to flow back toward the house. It needs to be installed right and checked now and then, and it only works if the downspouts aren't feeding the line behind it.
How the crew cleans a cellar
Sewage backup is Category 3 water. The crew pumps out what is standing, then removes anything porous it touched. In an unfinished stone cellar that is mostly boxes, carpet scraps, and wood shelving. In a finished basement it means carpet, pad, and the lower part of the drywall or paneling. Concrete, stone, and block get cleaned and disinfected. Then the space gets dried with dehumidifiers until the walls and floor read dry, which takes longer in a stone cellar than people expect.
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Questions
Will Pennsylvania American Water pay for the cleanup?
Ask PAW when you report it, and keep notes on who you talked to and what their crew found. Damage from a backup is usually a question for your own insurance policy first.
Is water from the floor drain always sewage?
In a combined system, treat it that way. Even when it looks clear, it has run through pipes that carry sewage.
Does homeowners insurance cover a floor drain backup?
Often only if the policy has a sewer or water backup endorsement. Check before you assume either way.