Some areas in Wheaton are at risk of flooding. Floods can ruin your property and also damage the items that you’ve worked hard to acquire over time- including furniture, clothing, electronics, or other sentimental objects. However, if a flood control system was installed in front of your home as part of an effective emergency response plan, then there’s very little chance for floods to do any harm!

Flood control sewer systems are designed to catch the water and store it temporarily before releasing it into a nearby river or stream. Flood control also prevents flooding in neighborhoods, residential homes, streets, and more!

The system is made up of underground pipes that carry stormwater from where it falls (called the “source”) to an area called a “catch basin” or “inlet.” The pipes have one-way valves so that when they fill with water, the pressure forces open another valve at the end of each pipe. That opens a section of pipe above ground near the catch basin, allowing excess water to flow out onto dry land.

Flood control sewers work like regular plumbing when there’s not enough rain. Sewage and stormwater flow into a common pipe to the processing plant. Here the sewage is cleaned up to meet water quality standards before it’s discharged into nearby waterways (rivers and streams).

The whole system is coordinated by a series of monitoring stations that measure rainfall. When extra water triggers an alarm, and more runoff starts flowing from catch basins, the monitoring stations open the valves to relieve pressure from the pipes.

This continuous cycle of stormwater and sewage flowing separately in pipes makes it possible for flood control sewers to protect everything nearby during heavy rain.