The drain in front of our house backed up last week and stuff straight out of our toilet began spewing onto the sidewalk. I called a plumber who told me it was the city’s issue because it was their side of the drain.
I called 311 and (I am not kidding) ten minutes later the city sewer truck drove up. A very nice man jumped out, took a 20 foot plunger, plunged the 4″ sidewalk drain and there was that lovely sound of a toilet flushing, except that it was the city’s sewer. He hosed it all out, sprayed some disinfectant and he was done.
Wow. I was fearing this was going to be thousands of dollars and lots of concrete work. Instead, ten minutes later I have a drain that drains and a clean sidewalk.
And the very nice sewer worker left a fascinating flyer, which I thought I’d put up because I never quite understood how the sewers worked before.