I have read a lot of posts about septic systems and city sewer systems and all posts have stated that if the city sewer system fails, the raw sewage will back up into your home. If this happens, you cannot live in your homes! Most GIs will not be relocating, staying mostly in suburban neighborhoods. I don't think you will have any notice as to the failure of the system. So unless you shut yourself off the system, there could be a life threatening event happen. I have a septic tank and not dependent on city sewage, but I use city water. I am very worried about relatives and friends that use the city sewers. Is there anyone here that has a alternative plan?

-- Carol (glear@usa.net), August 18, 1999

Answers

Locate the clean out plug and install a plumbers pneumatic ball... just don't use the toilet or run any water down the drain...; )

checkin' out the mailman...

The Dog

-- Dog (Desert Dog@-sand.com), August 18, 1999.

Not a plumber, but your in-laws can have a plumber install a "Back- flow Prevention Device" that will prevent sewage from coming back into their home. My boss this past winter had one big mess on his hands, up the street from him, a new subdivision went in, then the winter rains came, the overflow of the reservoir 10 miles from his low level home, was just too much water for the street drains. The fire dept. had to pump water/sewage out of his home 3 times. The city this summer installed a new sewer line on his street and he installed the backflow device for added insurance.

-- Judy (dodgeball@aol.com), August 18, 1999.

Carol,

Cutting themselves off from the sewer only solves half the problem. Portapotties,outhouses, or plstic bags and a dumpster all cause health problems of their own. Try this link:

http://www.kauai.net/humanure/humanure.html

Hope it helps,

-- CT (ct@no.yr), August 18, 1999.

Um, not to be a downer or anything, but, if you solve your sewage backup problem & your neighbors do not, how does that protect you from sickness/disease ???

If there is sewage in the streets &/or homes, is it not time to get out of Dodge???

I am not trying to be a Troll, I'm very serious.

-- Deborah (infowars@yahoo.com), August 18, 1999.

Deborah - I believe that some level of quarantine is an important part of the answer. For instance, making sure you have no need to go to a shelter where exposure to whatever could be a major issue. And then there is scrupulous hygiene - bleach, rubbing alcohol, soap. And the homemade electrolyte solution on a recent post.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), August 18, 1999.

Because it may be very important, here's that homemade electrolyte recipe:

ELECTROLYTE AND FLUID REPLACEMENT

One teaspoon of "Lite Salt" (by Morton, 1/2 iodized potassium chloride, 1/2 sodium chloride in a blue cylinder)

1/3 teaspoon of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate),

10 teaspoons of table sugar (sucrose),

one quart of water.

That happens to be a life saving fluid replacement and partial electrolyte expedient replacement. At least it is expedient if you have had the foresight to purchase the above three items BEFORE an emergency happens while it is readily available and very cheap. Many people die in times of emergency because of fluid losses. This can be from burns, vomiting, or diarrhea. The body needs water and certain water soluble chemicals to function. If either or both of these drop below a certain level, you die. There are many non-fatal diseases like cholera that become fatal due to lack of simple things like proper fluid replacement. If you have ever had a bad case of diarrhea and start to have pain in your muscles or joints, congratulations, you have had the early warning symptoms of a potassium deficiency.

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), August 18, 1999.

I should have given Ken Seger credit for making that recipe available. Thanks, Ken.

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), August 18, 1999.

All city sewer systems will NOT fail. Check with the City Works Department in City Hall. Many sewer systems are gravity fed. It depends on how big the city is and how hilly. Is the sewer treatment plant uphill or downhill from the homes. I found out that our little town is all uphill from the treatment plant and that we should have no problems with back-up.

-- Homeschooling Grandma (mlaymon@glenn-co.k12.ca.us), August 18, 1999.

Even having a spetic tank is no guarantee. They need to be pumped periodically...so make sure yours is ok prior to the end of the year.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), August 19, 1999.

If you DO have a septic tank, you may also have a problem. What people have pumped out periodically is the heavy gunkj on the bottom. But almost daily the fluid level reaches a float that activates a pump to pump the extra fluids out to the leaching field. Without electricity, no pump. A problem for anyone whose drain bed (leach field) is higher than their septic tank. Like us. So plumber is installing a switch we can use whenever we want (like Dec. 31st)to drain the septic way down, creating losts of spare space. Probably enough space, considering we'll be flushing very sparingly. Very sparingly indeed, after reading Humanure and trying that system with a Luggable Loo bucket from Fleet Farm. Works just as author says. No smell! (Good idea to use it just for poop, so you go through a lot less organic cover material - crushed leaves or whatever. The pee you can get rid of under a bush here and there, unless you live in a big city. Fresh pee actually sterile. At any rate, not where the disease organisims from a sick person depart the body.) Composts easily in the company of vegetable matter. Hope we don't have to use all the stuff we have stored/ experimented with, but now that we know it works I sleep much better. Shivani

-- Shivani Arjuna (SArjuna@aol.com), August 20, 1999.