Christine Ferretti

The Detroit News

Detroit — When torrential rains flooded east side basements with sewer water this summer, less than half of the pumps meant to keep the water at bay were operating.

Early findings from an investigation into the July and August sewage backups commissioned by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department cite a “lack of available pumps” during the rain storms that damaged hundreds of homes in several city neighborhoods.

DWSD Director Gary Brown said he’s not surprised with the report, which notes the system inadequacies “significantly affected the number of basements experiencing back-ups.” The department, he said, is working through $11 million in damage claims filed by about 800 customers from the two rainstorms.

“When you have large rain events, you need the pumps to be able to divert the water away from property that could be damaged,” he said. “With it not working, those are mitigating circumstances, which is why we’ve made the decision to settle with as many of these claims as we can.”

Meanwhile, Brown said he’s not letting a dispute between his department and the regional water authority over how the costs will be shared hold it up. The two sides, he said, could be headed to arbitration over how much each should have to pay toward the damage claims. For now, they are being paid out of DWSD’s budget.

“We think it should be a shared responsibility. We’ll work out who is financially responsible either in the courts or through arbitration,” Brown said. “But the point is, we’re not going to put our customers in the middle of this dispute.”

The failures in the system are revealed as the department continues to settle the claims and grapples with a class-action lawsuit filed by hundreds of residents.

The summary from DWSD’s engineering report notes the Conner Creek Pumping Station, Freud Pumping Station and Conner Creek Combined Sewer Outfall facility serve as the downstream outlet in storm events and their operation directly affects flooding in the Jefferson-Chalmers area.

“It is expected that 14 out of 16 pumps would likely have been required during these rain events,” the Nov. 14 summary notes. “Only 6 pumps ran on July 8 and 7 pumps ran on August 16.”

Brown said issues have been long standing and both the water department and authority have been working on temporary and longer term fixes.

“It was known and there were dollars in the capital improvement plan to address the issue,” he said. “Now, that’s been moved to the top of the priority list.”

Brown said the departments’ full report is expected to go before the Board of Water Commissioners at its meeting next week. Findings from a separate investigation conducted by the water authority is also being finalized.

GLWA reiterated Wednesday it takes the responsibility for maintaining the system seriously and has made a number of operational changes and identified upgrades to improve the system’s ability to handle intense rain events. The authority’s board recently approved more than $12 million in directly related capital expenditures.

The July rains dumped nearly 3 inches near Detroit City Airport — the eighth highest one-day total on record — flooding parts of Wayne County, according to figures from the National Weather Service. On Aug. 16, another 2.65 inches were recorded over a few hours, soaking Detroit, flooding a half dozen freeways and delivering similar rainfall totals to communities throughout Metro Detroit.

DWSD has settled about 50 damage claims so far. However, it isn’t able to settle with customers who have sued over the flood damage, Brown said.

A Wayne County Circuit Court lawsuit filed in October argues the city and water system operators were negligent, should have known about the system’s inadequacies and taken reasonable steps to repair them.

Steve Liddle, who’s Detroit-based firm, Liddle & Dubin, filed the suit on behalf of hundreds of Detroit customers, said the case remains in the information-gathering stage.

Liddle also raised issue with a state House bill that would make it harder for residents to sue cities over pump malfunctions that lead to flooded basements. House Bill 5282, which seeks to amend the Governmental Immunity Act, passed the House on Wednesday by a 62-44 vote. It will now move to the Senate.

Liddle called the legislation “outlandish” and contends, if passed, it will take away the incentive for cities to fix problems with sewer systems. The water department and authority did not take a position Wednesday on the legislation.

Jefferson-Chalmers resident Loretta Rodgers estimates she sustained at least $30,000 to $40,000 in losses during the July rain storm. The backup damaged jewelry, clothing and fabric stored in the basement for her traveling boutique and her flooring and furniture

“It’s a disaster for us,” said Rodgers, who is among those involved in the lawsuit. “That should never have happened.”

CFerretti@detroitnews.com