Municipal sewage systems and rural septic tanks play a critical role in containing or transporting wastewater away from homes, businesses, and public places. While most of these systems are designed for longevity, most will inevitably develop some type of fault or failure. This could be a cracked, leaking wastewater storage tank, a ruptured sewer line, or a catastrophic system backup that floods your home or business with hazardous wastewater.

Sewage is essentially wastewater that is created by human beings and sometimes animals. Most cities have separate sewage lines from storm drains as it is such a significant health hazard. It carries a wide range of biohazards and other materials that can make you severely ill.

This includes things like:

Coming in contact with sewage water puts you at high risk for contracting a pathogenic disease. The vapors sewage releases can also be toxic and potentially damage the respiratory system.

In severe cases, any of these illnesses can even cause death or permanent damage to organs. They are especially problematic for individuals with a weakened or suppressed immune system.

Sewage systems rely on a series of pipes and valves to transport wastewater from your home to a wastewater treatment plant. As the years go by these pipes can become increasingly prone to failure due to common rust, corrosion, and metal fatigue. Clogs caused by foreign materials that enter the system can also cause severe pressure buildup, which can rupture a pipe, or cause sewage entering the system to back up.

In the case of a septic tank, clogs can also occur in the system causing any wastewater entering the system to return to the home or building. This might also be caused by a failure in the septic tank itself which prevents wastewater effluent from entering the drain field.

When a sewage line is clogged and starts to back up the wastewater in the lines can gradually start to move back toward your home. In some cases, the flow rate can be astonishingly fast. When this starts to happen you might notice some early warning signs such as:

• Bubbles in showers, drains, and toilet bowl
• Gurgling sounds coming from drains
• Foul odors coming from drains
• A toilet that won’t flush
• Bathtub or shower that won’t drain
• Sinks that won’t drain

As a sewer line starts to back up, the toilet is one of the most likely things to overflow. This is followed by a shower or bathtub in the lowest level of the home. If you suspect that something has clogged the sewer line from your house to the municipal sewer system, or a failure in the municipal line, you need to immediately stop all water usage, and call the city services or an emergency plumber.

In the case of a failing septic tank, you might also notice wastewater, sewage, or effluent water pooling up in the lawn near the septic tank access ports.

Sewage cleanup is truly one of those things you should never try to do yourself. The toxins, microbes, pollutants, and potential pathogens in the wastewater can pose a severe risk to your health. Not to mention that most consumer-grade cleaning products and shop vacs simply aren’t up to the task! Any lingering bacteria or other microbes that aren’t effectively remediated can start to spread days or even weeks later.

At Affordable Remediation, our technicians have access to state-of-the-art equipment and professional-grade cleaning products that can handle just about any size sewage problem.

Our process starts with a rapid assessment of the situation to determine the severity and formulate an effective remediation strategy. If necessary, we can coordinate with plumbers or municipal officials to streamline the cleanup process.

Once the cause of the backup has been addressed our experienced technicians will put on their personal protective equipment and start the cleanup process. This typically starts with removing and properly disposing of all raw sewage, as well as disposing of any severely compromised materials according to EPA standards and in accordance with all other pertinent regulations.

At that point we will professionally sanitize the site, to eliminate the presence of all harmful microbes, biohazards, and other possible contaminants. Our meticulous approach and commercial-grade cleaning products effectively eliminate all microbes in the affected area to ensure that you won’t have to deal with recurring odors or mold problems. We then thoroughly deodorize the site using specially formulated cleaning and deodorizing products.