What's Under the Streets in South Orange?

During and after Irene's visit, residents noticed water more than usual. Some people saw water coming up from manhole covers, or noticed slow drains.

This story ran last year, both to suggest to residents how to deal with sewer backups, and also to show locals what's down under. It's not often that we see -- or even consider -- the web of pipe that takes our water away. 

Photos here show our century-old infrastructure, still hard at work.

The kitchen sink drains slowly or there's an odd smell in the basement. Worse, the lowest drain in the house is full of dirty water that seems to be going nowhere. When someone upstairs flushes, the water level rises ominously.

The homeowner calling for the phone and a plumber may want to call the Village first. A discreet notice in the Gaslight reminds residents to call the South Orange Public Works Department at 973 378-7741 during business hours, or the non-emergency police number at 973 378-7772. Village employees will determine whether the blockage is in the street.

And then what? Clark Street residents saw an answer to this question in the last several days, as the sanitary sewer was draining slowly. Village personnel inspected the sewer and cleared the blockage with a water jet. Still, problems remained.  Residents saw what Michael S. described as "slow flow."

No wonder: our sanitary sewers are older than anyone reading this. Village President Ira A. Kip, who first took office in 1908, took credit for improving South Orange's waste removal. He was an advocate for the joint trunk sewer system, and saw miles of pipe laid during his administration.

Some of this same pipe was laid bare last week. After Village employees determined the location of the problem on Clark Street, they sent a camera down into the pipes. When it, too, was blocked, a vacuum truck removed debris to allow the camera to travel freely below the surface of the street.

In this case, Clark Street's slow drains were caused by a pipe problem. Kip's old terracotta waste pipe was damaged. A day later, Village personnel were on the scene, supervising, as the street was opened, the sewage stream diverted with a pump, and 125 feet of PVC piping laid.

By the end of the workday, the dozen trucks were gone, leaving behind only a seam in the street and the easy flow of water underground.

The Gaslight reminds readers that sewer backups are often caused by people flushing diapers, personal products, or paper towels. These should be discarded elsewhere, along with coffee grounds and grease.