Jamestown Board of Public Utilities board meeting
Basement flooding and sewage back-up concerns on Jamestown’s west side following last week’s thaw and rain were brought up to the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities at its monthly meeting.
Ward Four Councilmember and former BPU board member Marie Carrubba spoke at the meeting, saying she had several constituents in her neighborhood contact her.
She said their issues included sewage backing up into homes and some basements with up to six inches of water where the Jamestown Fire Department had to be called to help pump water out, “When I see the BPU trucks on my street, I can tell you it’s not a good sign. I appreciate the help, but this is coming too often now to see fire departments pumping out basements, to see BPU trucks checking the manhole covers to see if water is coming through and coming out. I appreciate all the work that’s been done, but it isn’t obviously enough.”
Jamestown Director of Public Works and BPU Board member Jeff Lehman said the DPW had put in a new stormwater management pond on the west side several years ago in addition to other measures, “We’ve increased drainage collection points and did a lot of improvements to the system over the past 10 years. And really up until this point, we haven’t had any major issues. We are looking at it with the fire department now where there are particular problem areas, so once we get a better handle on it we’ll see if there’s any improvements that can be done.”
Lehman said his guess is that the issue is a mix of sanitary and storm lines and private lines as well. He said those who have had issues should call the Department of Public Works at (716) 483-7545 as it will help with mapping the problem areas.
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