Brookfield Happening Now

Such a quick apology, Jack. You must have had a phone call.

You know, you were the guy with the power for a few years. It looks like maybe you could have implemented a few things then if it was really a concern to you.

Sorry, Cindy, no phone call was made or received. My apology was made based on observation alone. My serving as alderman for only two years gave me no more "power for a few years" than any other Brookfield citizen. 

We know you love the city's administrators, but even with such an abnormally heavy rainfall there are obvious things the city could do to help.  River Road is a prime example of poor planning.  It floods over every couple of years and it has been raised, but not enough, in the area of the Fox underpass.  It should have been raised higher and for a much longer distance!  The same applies to all the roads in the areas where the Fox passes under them.  If they are county roads, they need to work with them to solve such simple problems.

Another example of poor engineering requirements it that sewer/water  lines are laid in a gravel bed running into the homes.  That forms a tunnel for water to flow right under the house if it is on a downhill  terrain.  For example, the homes to the north of Bluemound east of Brookfield Road are all on the downhill side and subterranean water flows to the foundations.  There should be a requirement that a solid barrier of earth or concrete is in the line to block the rapid flow of water under the house.  Our building codes are very poor, many basement walls require repair when a house is sold, and our brilliant engineers do nothing to improve the codes.

So rave on about your friends at city hall, Jack, but I'm not impressed with them at all.  Let's continue with all the commercial developments so we can have more runoff!

I must assume you have an engineering degree. And I am sorry you hold the administration in such low esteem. Perhaps you should serve in the Council. 

Jack, I believe that the city is addressing the problem even as we speak. This morning I passed a fleet of flatbed trucks carrying half a dozen Ducks from Wisconsin Dells. As I understand it, the Ducks will be used to ferry residents from their shoreline parking areas to and from the rooftops of their homes near Underwood Creek. All of this is being provided gratis by our fine city government.

There's nothing to fear when Jeff is here. Let full city development continue unabated!

Friend of mine live on the north end of Hillsdale Drive and he has water in the basement from the sump overflowing.  The pump has been running continuously since Saturday night and can't keep up even though it's a 3/4 hp pump.  He told me he never had water in the basement until they put in the sewers.  

Do I need to have an engineering degree to understand that he has the same problem as I do under the same topigraphical conditions?  I must tell you that I had a cement "plug" put in last year when the water was connected and I didn't get water coming up the cracks in the floor where the sewer line was laid!

I wouldn't run for council because I'd go nuts dealing with them and I'd get hammered for being "hard to work with" just like Cindy did.

I believe these are short term problems which will disappear once the VK vision for Brookfield is realized: An expanse of rooftops broken only by small strips of concrete intermingled with occasional drainage ponds and weed beds to assure the desired ambiance as measured out in a continuum of fowl droppings.

It is not the city's problem if water is finding its way up the sewer lateral through the stone it has been laid in. Your private sewer contractor was responsible for putting in a clay dam at or near the house to stop any infiltration of water through the stone . The City did not install that lateral. He also shouuld have offered you a gate valve ($75 $ instaled) at the minimum penetration point into the home to stop any sewer back up into the home until the sewer line back up is cleared.

The gate valve is closed by the home owner in a few seconds to stop sewer back up if you have that problem where you live.

Some home owners ignore the fact that their sump pump must not enter the sanitary system and pump there foundation water into the sanitary system contributing to the volume of sewer efluent that is not needed.

The City cannot hold the hands of private home owners who are always looking for a cheap way out instead of the right way of doing things. Home owners never take out permits for remodeling for fear they may have to do it in conformance to the Uniform Dwelling Code which really is only minimum standards.

Larry- you're dead wrong.  this is the city's problem

The City has no control over a sewer laterl into a private dwelling. If it is leaching rain or ground water to the home the sewer lateral is the problem and not the City. It seems you lack an understanding of how this all works. If the sump pump/drain tile system is overwhelming the sump crock, it is doing its job of getting the ground water off the foundation walls and from under the floor which is what it is suppose to do.The home owner is responsible for providing enough pumping capacity to do so. It may require the additon of another sump crock to provide more pumping capacity and also the additon of a sump pump into the same crock that is energized when the first pump cannot handle the capacity of the drain tile system. That second pump must be activated even when it has not done so by it self to keep the pump from being calcified by the minerals in the water if it is not activated for a long period of time.

Effluent coming into the home from the sewer system is a municipal problem if it is due to the systme not functioning properly. Many people think they can dump there foundation water into the sanitary system and then they are the contributors to the sanitary system being overwhelmed. Shorewood and the City of Milwaukee have that problem that the suburb's got a bill for that never solved there combined sewer problems. The Sewer Wars, Our former Mayor "Kate" did her best to combat that bill but the courts overruled us.

Larry, since you claim to be a building contractor, could you point me to the Brookfield code number that specifies the clay dam that you say is required?  It's odd that I and my friend both have the same problem which would indicate that the sewer contractors both ignored the code, and that the building inspector also didn't check such a critical requirement...which WOULD make it a city problem if they indeed have it in the code...which I doubt!  I'll be happy if you prove yourself correct.

The clay dam on the sewer lateral is not a code. I never said it was, it is good building practice. Just like our Uniform Dwelling Code represents MINIMUM standards. And that code has a code with in the code, Manufacturers requirements of their products.

Depending on soil conditions a dam on the sewer lateral would not be installed and there is no requirement for it. If the lateral connection in the street or at the lot line is wet that kind of tells a sewer contractor that a dam should be installed somewhere in the lateral so that the stone the lateral has been encased in does not let the water table from the street find its way into the house though the stone the lateral has been protected with.