Dec 9, 2003 By Joyce Koballa 3 min read

SOUTH CONNELLSVILLE – The borough’s encounter with flooding last month left several residents asking council about what measures could be taken to help prevent any further damage to their properties from storm water and sanitary sewer run off. John Garlick, John Grinko and Patty Renze presented their water problems, which Garlick said occurred initially in his East Gibson Avenue residence in August of 2000.

“Three years have gone by and nothing’s been done,” said Garlick.

According to Garlick, the sewer run-off is a serious problem in the borough because it imposes a health hazard. “This is an emergency. The priority should have been years ago,” said Garlick of the situation.

Grinko, who resides on Sycamore Street, said this was the second time he encountered sewer back-up in the basement of his ranch house in eight years as a borough resident.

“I lost a lot of items that were stored in my basement and this time there was five inches of water downstairs in my family room,” Grinko said.

Grinko added that he had to take off two days from work to clean up.

With last month’s flooding causing a myriad of problems for municipalities throughout Fayette County, there was virtually nothing that could be done about the water run-off, according to Dick Widmer, vice president of Widmer Engineering.

“No one can design for something like that,” Widmer said.

Because the borough’s water run-off system consists of old terracotta pipe, Widmer suggested removing the catch basins.

With the borough having its own municipal authority, Widmer said problems with sewer system back up is usually handled by that entity.

Garlick provided council with photos of his basement and also a letter with possible solutions to help alleviate the problem.

According to the letter, Garlick suggested the borough act on Widmer’s suggestion to install two catch basins, one on each side of Sycamore Street and piped south. Also, to install a continuous concrete catch basin and cast-iron grating across the alley east of Sycamore Street and warp the existing paving to flow into the basin pipe as Widmer presented.

After discussing the issue for more than an hour, council took no action, but agreed to have Carl McElhaney, municipal authority chairman, look into using a camera to probe the sanitary sewers to determine if something can be done to help alleviate water pressure build up from heavy rain.

In a separate matter, council agreed for the street department to purchase additional stone to use for several ongoing projects, including East Gibson Avenue, as a priority not to exceed a cost of $2,500.

Council also agreed to suspend secretary Sandy Barr without further pay and benefits pending her termination. Solicitor Richard Bower advised council to provide no further comment on the matter.