Private Property Programs: Just the Facts

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) estimates that between 23,000 and 75,000 sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) events occur per year in the U.S. (excluding basement backups) (US EPA, 2004). Regulatory authorities are increasingly requiring wastewater utilities to eliminate such overflow events. One approach to eliminating SSOs is to reduce the entry of inflow and infiltration (I/I) into the sewer system. If removing public I/I sources alone is not enough, wastewater utilities are faced with the dilemma of either constructing large storage structures or going onto private property to remove private I/I sources. In some cities, it is estimated that as much as 60% of the flow that overfills their sanitary sewers comes from service connections (US EPA, 1996).Recognizing the challenges that prevent many utilities from implementing sanitary sewer lateralrelated programs, the Water Environment Federation's Collection Systems Committee has developed an online virtual library website, the Private Property Virtual Library (PPVL), dedicated to private property-related issues that are encountered by many wastewater utilities. This website was launched in 2007 and, since that time, has grown into a substantial resource for utilities looking for information on private property programs and related issues.In an effort to further summarize and disseminate the information that has been gathered to date, the PPVL team has started to develop fact sheets on that will be available on the PPVL website and can be distributed as handouts at meetings, presentations, etc. The fact sheets are designed to focus on “hot topics” pertaining to private property, such as funding resources, I/I programs, maintenance and lateral inspection programs, and private property resources by geographic area.This presentation will include highlights from the available fact sheets, a summary of resources recently made available on www.wef.org/privateproperty, an overview of the PPVL collection built to date, including participating utilities, the types of private property programs that these utilities have established, and a brief demonstration on navigating the PPVL website.