After the clog is removed, quarrels between residents in the flood-prone area and the Common Council and Public Works Department might be put to rest.
Three weeks ago, a crew led by Street Superintendent Scott Maass discovered the mysterious blockage, which could be anything from rocks and dirt to tree roots, in a drainage pipe buried 20 feet beneath Jefferson Street that drains to Little Mud Lake.
That problem pipe is responsible for draining an area of the city northeast of downtown - Jefferson, E. Howard and E. Carroll streets - that can flood after 2 or 3 inches of rain in a short period of time.
To combat the floods, the city has invested more than $100,000 in a pumping system meant to evacuate water from the area. But the pump doesn't displace enough water.
Just this July, a shower with 5 1/2 inches of rain turned into a flood in alleys around Jefferson Street.
"I'm the only guy I know that when it rains I have to take my lawn mover out of my garage," said Jeff Monfort, a six-year resident of the 300 block of East Howard Street who has attended Portage Common Council meetings to complain about the floods.
Despite the city's efforts to provide better drainage, Monfort said he and his neighbors have to get into "flood mode" about three or four times a year and move property from their alley to higher ground.
"You've got to give the city credit for doing something, but they didn't do a very good job."
The clog could have existed for four years, the time since the city last "televised" the pipe, which means examining it with a camera for damage, said Bob Redelings, director of public works for the city of Portage. Redelings inherited the flooding issue when he joined the department about four years ago.
"There have been problems in those two alleys for years, so the city has spent a lot of money trying to remedy them," he said. "Hopefully without spending more money we can fix them."
In 2008, 10 inches of rain caused flooding that destroyed one property's foundation on Jefferson Street and ruined a finished basement the weekend an East Howard Street resident was going to show the house to a potential buyer.
‘It should run downhill'
For years, Kirk Konkel, a former Wisconsin Department of Transportation civil engineer and chairman of the city's Park and Recreation Board, wracked his brain about the flooding in alleys near Jefferson Street.
"My basic concept is that the property owners who had lived there for 30 years said it had drained at one time. Then I thought, ‘If it was draining at one time, why isn't it draining now?'" Konkel said. "Water runs downhill, and it should run downhill. It's that simple."
Konkel brought together contour maps of Little Mud Lake and compared them with maps of Jefferson Street and city plans for the grade of the pipping beneath the street.
All the evidence suggested that unless the pipe was clogged or blocked it should drain.
About three months ago, Konkel went to the city's Municipal Services and Utilities committee and told the city that if it checked out the pipe, it would find something that doesn't belong, said Rick Dodd, committee chairman.
Three weeks ago, a city crew discovered the clog and completely changed the city's ideas about the drainage problem. Until the clog was discovered, council members had thought water pressure from Little Mud Lake was backing water up into the pipe and flooding the alleys during heavy rains.
"If this is the problem, this is a big relief," Dodd said. "Though it would have been nice to know this a few years ago."
Redelings said the city has made clearing the blockage one of its top priorities and probably will get working on it after snow has been removed from the city streets.
Fixing the clog could cost between $5,000 and $10,000, which is just a portion of the cost the city was estimating would be needed to pump the water to a nearby gully or dredge Little Mud Lake and lay new sewer pipes.
The city rarely checks the storm sewers, unlike sanitary sewers, which it inspects regularly.
But for 2011, the council inserted $50,000 into the city budget for storm sewer inspection in "areas we believe might be an issue," Dodd said. In total, the city has budgeted about $400,000 in sewer improvements.
And if clearing the blockage out of the Jefferson Street sewer doesn't fix the problem, the city will keep looking for other ways to fight the rising water, said Redelings, and the residents in the alleys will keep fighting the floods, Monfort.
"Every time there's a cloud in the sky, you're thinking, ‘How much is it going to rain?'" Monfort said. "You've always got this anxiety about water."
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