Rose Garden Resident

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Preventing clogged sewers easier than cleanup after winter storm

By Eli Segall

Winter also brings an unexpected and unwelcome gift to San Jose: a network of clogged underground sewer lines.

With Northern California's rainy season ready to strike, water can oversaturate the ground and seep straight into San Jose's sewer pipes. This causes more pipe stoppages during winter than other times of the year, said Raymond Ho, sewer and storm services manager for the San Jose Department of Transportation.

Older neighborhoods, such as downtown and the Rose Garden, which have flatter terrain and older pipes, experience more problems than newly developed areas such as Almaden Valley and Evergreen, Ho said.

The Association of Bay Area Governments runs a sewer education program, "Be Sewer Smart," to inform all Bay Area residents about common underground problems, and how to address them.

San Jose City Councilman Dave Cortese is president of ABAG and is distributing backflow prevention devices, a small, mushroom-shaped instrument that allows water and backup materials to escape from the home. The devices are free.

Backflow, a process of water or waste materials coming through a sink or bathtub drain into a home, is much less common than backups, when waste obstructs a home plumbing system and clogs drains or toilets.

"People don't realize the effects of backflow," said Rabia Chaudry, Cortese's chief of staff. "It doesn't happen all that frequently, but it can cost up to $40,000 just to clean your house."

For more information about the program, call 408.535.4908 or visit www.sewersmart.org.