The city's test for who to call
The City of St. Peters is responsible for the sewer mains. The lateral from your house to the main is yours. The city's guidance for telling them apart comes down to one question: is anyone using water?
- The floor drain backs up only while you are using water, and drains slowly once you stop. The problem is most likely in your own line. The city's emergency guide says to start with a plumber, not the city. That is a drain cleaning call.
- Sewage comes up when nobody in the house is using water. The public main may be blocked. Call the city's Utilities Department at 636-477-6600, extension 1573. The city says to call that number day or night.
The same number is the one to call if a manhole is overflowing, or if you can see or smell sewage outside.
The city also asks residents to report every backup, wherever the blockage turns out to be. That goes to extension 1225.
Houses from the 1970s on
St. Peters grew from a village into a city in the 1970s and 80s. The earliest of those houses are about fifty years old now.
The older subdivisions can have cast iron under the basement slab. At this age it scales up, catches paper, and starts to crack. Later subdivisions are plastic throughout, and their problems are low spots where the trench settled, grease, and wipes.
Where the city's program stops
St. Peters has a Sewer Lateral Repair Program for homeowners who have had a backup caused by a moderate or severe defect in the lateral. It is funded by a $28 yearly fee paid with real estate taxes, and it pays up to $10,000 per household.
To apply you send in a receipt for having the lateral cleaned, last year's paid tax receipt and a $500 application fee. The city's contractor then videos the line. If the defect doesn't qualify, the balance of the fee is refunded. If it does, the city collects the repair quotes, picks the lowest qualified bid and pays the contractor.
- It covers the lateral from the outside foundation wall to the public main, plus street, sidewalk or driveway replacement, seed and straw, and permits.
- It doesn't cover damage from the backup itself, or landscaping, sprinklers, dog fences, retaining walls and pools.
- Repairs or videos done before you apply aren't covered.
- If you are selling, you can apply after closing. It can't be a condition of the sale.
The program office is at 636-477-6600, extension 1278.
Notice where coverage begins: at the foundation wall. Pipe under the basement floor is outside the program, and that is where failing cast iron usually is. For that pipe, compare a lining quote with a dig quote. If the basement is finished, lining keeps the floor in place.
Compare sewer lateral programs across 29 St. Louis-area cities