As the state of Iowa has seen a good amount of rainfall over the summer, a city official in the Perry community highlights the obstacles that’s brought with it.

Public Works Director Josh Wuebker tells Raccoon Valley Radio that they’ve had to deal with rain events consisting of two to three inches and all the water soaks into the ground, causing sewer issues around Perry. He explains that water is entering into the sewer system because the sewer lines were put in a long time ago, plus with the way some of the older homes were developed where the drainage is put around the foundation, or there’s a sump pump, or a rain gutter, the rain floods the sewer system.

Wuebker says on a typical day at the wastewater plant, the public works department is treating anywhere from 800,000 to one million gallons of wastewater, but on heavier rain occurrences, it can double or perhaps even triple that amount. He describes the department is investigating with the company Midwest Vac Professionals on next steps.

“Once the crops get out, we’ll go in and expose all those manholes, and have that whole area cleaned, televised, (and) see if we have any interconnection where ‘Oh this manhole’s leaking, it’s acting as an intake,’ and we can fix those.”

Wuebker illustrates that the public works department is wanting to get a “relief sewer line,” which would hopefully alleviate the high amount of rainfall.