Members of two H Avenue households had the Kalona City Council’s ear Monday night as they voiced concern and anger over sewage overflows into their basements following heavy rain overnight Saturday to Sunday.

“I noticed that I had a large amount of sewage coming from my toilet. We ended up with 18 inches in our basement,” one resident said. “I am concerned to make sure that we have the right amount of storm sewers, storm drainages, and they’re not mixing together with sewer because I would feel like they should be different systems.”

“Sewer, rainwater – they're supposed to go in different directions,” said another. “I probably have $50,000-$60,000 [in damage] that I’m going to be dealing with in my house, where I had shit water up to my knees, and other people I’ve been hearing have had it up to their chest.”

Mayor Mark Robe said, “We had five and a half inches of rain in a very short amount of time,” that “all of our systems were working 100 percent the way they should have.”

City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh agreed that “the system worked as it was designed, but that doesn’t mean we can’t improve.”

To that end, the City has been “tracking addresses that have called in,” and is creating a heat map that the city engineer can smoke test, “to make sure we don’t have any cross-connection that is adding unwanted material and/or water into the line that we really want to protect, and see if we have any infiltration points that are susceptible,” Schlabaugh said.

“It’s something we would do to just make sure that sump pumps are pumping to daylight and not pumping to the sanitary sewer,” he said.

One of the residents noted that Kalona has received five inches of rain in the past, but his basement hasn’t flooded in the previous decade.

Schlabaugh said already saturated ground was a factor in the weekend event.

“The amount of water and the saturation in the ground also lends itself to water finding a way into your sanitary sewer system,” he said. “Our lift stations worked at capacity the entire time.”

One of the residents suggested assistance may be available from the Red Cross, “because what happened to us is a disaster.”

Water Meters

New water meters topped the planned Sept. 21 agenda. The City has budgeted a portion of funds borrowed for water/sewer system improvements for new meters and software, as those currently in use will become obsolete.

Schlabaugh proposed partnering with Ferguson Waterworks for meters and installation; 1350 residential and commercial customers will have meters partially or fully replaced over two months. The new system allows for usage tracking through an app and paperless billing, making it both efficient and customer-friendly, he said.

The council approved the $490,049.50 expenditure.

Traffic Study

Given the new development on Highway 1 south of Highway 22, Schlabaugh proposed partnering with the DOT for an impact study of traffic proximal to that intersection. The four-month process would provide a detailed look at user patterns at a cost of $10,000-12,000; the DOT would cost-share and present recommendations to the public and council based on the study.

“Right now we have outdated data on that point, as we have grown, as our community sees more traffic and so forth,” Schlabaugh said, noting previous studies predated Kwik Star.

The council approved proceeding with the traffic index study.

Additional Action

The City was awarded $500,000 in state/federal funds through the Water Quality Initiative, which it plans to use for Phase 2 of the Wetland Project, which will cover about 9 acres. The council approved a $157,000 contract with EOCENE Environmental to continue the design, bid, and construction process.

The council also considered and approved fall road estimates for concrete and asphalt on portions of 3rd Street and D Avenue.

The Kalona City Council will next meet on Monday, Oct. 5 at 6 p.m. at City Hall.