Bad news friends, when the shtf your shit might not float off happily into the wild blue yonder as we are so used to it doing at the magical push of the handle. Even if you have a bucket of water to pour down your toilet, your log might refuse to leave. Worse still, it may soon be joined by fragments of your neighbor's turds, right in your own bowl! Finally, when enough "goldfish" are in your bowl, there will be no more room and they'll spill over onto your floor as well as come up the drain in your bathtub, shower, floor drain and sink! This is called "sewer backup" When the shtf the town & city sewage systems will cease functioning. Stuff (shit, wastewater, etc) will still flow toward the treatment plants by gravity, but because the treatment plants can't treat it, it will just accumulate until the level gets so high it begins to fill the underground lines leading up to it and eventually it will be so full it will back up into people's homes. Here's a real life testimony followed by a better explanation:
During the eastcoast blackout, the public works office here was asking not to use any water sources excessively after the power was back up and running. Since the pumps at the treatment station shut down, the whole system started to back up into peoples homes that live near that area () and it backed up into the local streams as well.
I dont really understand how the system works, so I hope someone with some knowledge on it shows up
Sewage leaves your house and flows by gravity to the lowest point. On most systems, the lowest point is the nearest lift station. sewage is then pumped to the treatment plant, which also runs on electricity. there are some (very few) systems that are entirely gravity operated, which will work fine until the treatment plant backs up. Then you have overflow into surface water, or the entire system backs up.
In either case, when the juice stops, the system stops. In a gravity flow system, if the utility closes off the valves into the treatment plant, the service connections at the lowest points (usually nearest the treatment plant) back up and begin flowing backwards into the dwellings. On a lift pump system, the lift stations are the lowest point and each lift station will back up the service lines again. In either case, sooner or later you are gonna get raw sewage backing up into any connection and overflowing out of the toilets, tubs, etc. This renders the building uninhabitable until cleanup, and man what a shitty mess. You almost have to pressure wash the entire affected area and disinfect with bleach.
Backflow preventers are a good idea no matter which type of system you are on. I used to run service calls where the actual blockage was out in the street somewhere, and man, you cannot believe what a blocked sewer and your neighbor's shit smells like when concentrated in a basement. Not sure if homeowner's covers it either.
Quick note: make sure you have a cleanout plug installed OUTSIDE of the building running downstream into the sewer line to the street or septic tank. If you don't, the only access to the line will be in your basement. Wanna see how far backed up sewage can blow a pipe cap?
For this reason I had a sewer backup valve installed in my older home. It was a nightmare getting it done, had to jackhammer the concrete in the basement, expose and cut the old line, install the valve. The valve needs a precise slope to it or it won't work and despite explaining that to the plumber til my face was purple, the jerk installed it incorrectly and it was a great stress to rehabilitate the situation. I ended up having to do it myself. I lost a friendship in the process - the guy who recommended the plumber plus made an enemy - the plumber. Warning: educate yourself before you let the "professional" at it. Then watch over his shoulder no matter how much he reassures you that he knows what he's doing. Check everything by reliable sources, ie the product manufacturer instructions. Because ultimately the plumbers' going home to spend your money while you are going to have to deal with the consequences of shoddy workmanship.
Just in case anyone thinks that a septic system is the ultimate shtf system... that is not so. All septic systems need to have the solids pumped out yearly and septic fields can get clogged and become useless. Septic systems are also great groundwater polluters.
Best system I think is the humanure system. I believe it's better than classic outhouse system because outhouses can pollute the groundwater and shallow water wells.
Here is a quick note that I can pass along and it requires a childrens ball for playing you know the kind! 
Head on down to your local hardware store and get yourself some toy plastic/rubber balls of the appropriate size that will fill the cavity or slightly larger. Find yourself the appropriate length stick ( MAKE ONE 🙂 and wedge it between the ball and the ceiling providing enough pressure to seal the required hole. Have it in your storage where you would hopefully have many more preps for windows and door security if your staying home under these conditions. Either way before you are evacuated for ANY reason the stoppers for your bowls and sinks should be in place so you dont come home to a mess in the event you leave and come back.
Simple and effective
Whatever tomorrow brings,… I will be there! 😉
Thanks for this info. It is yet another layer of information I need to help prep the house.
Your first paragraph is about the most entertainment I have had today! I know its a serious topic and I have taken a lot from your post...but the goldfish analogy was pretty entertaining! 🙂
https://www.internationalpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=7738
Thanks for bringing this up. Its a subject that both the Bug In and Bug Out crowd miss. If you stay, your house will fill with crap. If you go, you will return to an unsellable house filled with crap.
A friend of mine told me his plan for this dilemma. At the first sign of a grid down situation...or before he had to leave his house...his intention was to sever the sewer line at the road and direct it to drain into the ditch. Better the ditch than the house. Of course, he had a backhoe back then. It would be a bit more trouble with a pick and shovel...still, best to know where that line is. You may not have a choice. Has anyone but me noticed that all the prepper promises of a simpler life...or a life of exiting adventure....tends to disappear when the real world catches up ....like flowing sewage, raking hay by hand, or piling firewood to season for a year wile hoping you have enough from last year to survive the winter at hand...
No problem for us. We have septic...and simple compost toilet incase that fails. Im sure we will have enough things to do without worrying about the pooh.
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
yes I have laughed a little at the idea of it being a simpler life, what it will be is hard work, a lot of hard work, and endless worry on if there will be enough, enough seeds, enough time, enough sunshine, enough rain, enough crops, enough wood for the winter, and so on and so on..
http://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.wordpress.com/
I just thought of something.... Wouldn't the city or town have a curbside shutoff to stop the sewage flow from your house to the street? Think about when they demolish a house or building. There would be open lines from the plumbing left. Somehow those lines must be removed and sealed at the point they enter the street sewer line. So it makes sense to my eenie weenie mind that maybe they had the foresight to see this need and maybe that means shutoffs are out there curbside, just like there's a water shutoff... somewhere.
Hay, (porpoisly misspelt), I think I'm onta somthin' It's gotta be out there in your lawn somewhere, a sewer shutoff. Could an expert please take center stage and 'splain this to us commonfolk??? I'm likin this possibility...
Crownsown:
I had a friend who did some sewage backup cleanup... He is the one that informed me on technical plumbing terms: turds are "goldfish", tampons are "mice', and butcracks are the "plumber's salute".
To tell you the truth, I made up the last one, but the other two I'll sware by... shit...dang... %$#@... ! Now, now DEnob, don't be upset by the sh-- word - it's right on topic and a highly technical term for poo!!
And for all you folks who have a splling neurosis, I sinthesize with you tottaly, but it's my prerogative to spll like I like! But just so you know I'm funnin' you & dont meant no harm, I'd like to leave you with a freindy little salute! ( I )
Hun, what?
Oh great...a topic about shit and my name gets brought up!
Just funnin' you Denob... friendy fun! Don't read nuthin into it. ( I )
Avoiding Basement Flooding
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/co/maho/gemare/gemare_002.cfm
Sewer Backup
Extra storm-related water (from sources other than wastewater and groundwater) should flow into the storm sewer or soak slowly into the ground without entering the sanitary sewer. If excess storm water does enter the sanitary sewer system, it can overload this kind of system. When the sewers are overloaded, the water level in the system rises above normal design levels, and this condition is referred to as “surcharge.” Basement flooding can occur if the home has sanitary fixtures or floor drains below the surcharge level
it has a picture explaining why it happens
Thanks, Oldschool, the information and diagrams are very helpful. I've been trying to understand the sewer backup threat and it requires a bit of understanding of how the sewer system is configured, what you have offered brings it together well.
I did some research to try and find out if there was a sewer shut off curbside, what I found is that shutoffs are unlikely to exist for older homes like mine, but might exist in newer ones. I think I might phone the town office just to check. Obviously it would be a great asset to have access to a shutoff in the event sewage started to backtrack. You'd wanna locate that thing now while there's no snow on the ground and note the location for future need. Come to think of it, I need to re-locate my water supply valve - I think that's what it is, it's a valve in front lawn just by the sidewalk. I had marked the fence close to it with a sharpie in case I ever needed to find it in the winter, but just the other day I was quite surprised to find that one winter erased all traces of my sharpie notation... this time I'll carve it in.
I agree that a sewer shut off would be a great idea, but I also figure that the city would charge an arm and a leg to install it.
Maybe a plumber could do something from the inside right where it exits the house...probably cheaper, and easier to reach in winter.
There should also be a valve for your water supply inside as well.
This, of course, applies to those on city serviced land.
As I write this post, I am waiting for the septic sucker truck to help get me out of a messy situation
My septic tank, which is a very old 650 gallon dry well with purification field is just a little past full...to the top of the access, but not spilling onto the ground....yet.
So, if there is no septic service, how do you handle such a situation?
Well, you could use a pump to do it yourself, but you need to have a place to empty it into.
In my situation, I cannot simply let it drain into the roadside ditch, as the ditch system here empties into the lake across the road...yuck!
So, even if you have renewable energy to run a pump, you still need to figure out where to put the "stuff".
Thankfully, this is a situation that should not pop up more than once a year.
I just thought of something.... Wouldn't the city or town have a curbside shutoff to stop the sewage flow from your house to the street? Think about when they demolish a house or building. There would be open lines from the plumbing left. Somehow those lines must be removed and sealed at the point they enter the street sewer line. So it makes sense to my eenie weenie mind that maybe they had the foresight to see this need and maybe that means shutoffs are out there curbside, just like there's a water shutoff... somewhere.
Hay, (porpoisly misspelt), I think I'm onta somthin' It's gotta be out there in your lawn somewhere, a sewer shutoff. Could an expert please take center stage and 'splain this to us commonfolk??? I'm likin this possibility...
New homes are built with this and usually a back flow preventer valve. The thing is with out a valve handle previously built your up poo creek with out a valve handle..
Denob - that's why I think humanure is the only way to go. Septic systems pollute the groundwater and shallow wells, plus they need solids pumped out at least yearly. They can freeze and seize and collapse & get plugged up. They can oversaturate the ground such that it cannot absorb any more wastewater in the process leaching the ground into a soppy bacteria ridden mess. The more I know about them the less I like them. Outhouses also can pollute the groundwater and shallow wells.
The humanure system kills all pathogens and polluting organisms through heat during the proper composting process. It is also a nearly odorless system if implemented correctly, there's a free handbook on the net which tells all. In case anyone's interested, the composting thermometers which are needed to ensure your pile reaches temperatures high enough to kill harmful pathogens is available at Lee Valley. It was a difficult search to find that, and ordering one from the Humanure website was cost prohibitive.
Heliopilot - what do you mean... the city or town puts in shutoffs, but keep for themselves the magic tool to make them work? Am I understanding you correct? In any event, I have an older house so there's probably no shutoff.
Regarding a way of stopping sewage reversal from inside the house, that's what I just had installed - a Mainline Fullport Backup Valve. They must be installed on all new homes, mine didn't have one. There's complications doing a retro-install, not to mention jackhammering a length of my basement floor to expose the pipes, then cut the old pipe and insert the valve according to the manufacturers specifications - WITH PROPER SLOPE If you go that way for heaven's sake, get informed beforehand and watch your workers like hawks or the goons will screw up the install and you'll never discover it til the shtf and it's backing up all throughout your basement.
Hi Martha,
I have a cousin that works in public works and he has said the same thing, that the shutoff's for the town are there but that you need a tailored tool in order to attach and make it work, this is to keep anyone from being able to turn them on or off.
When there was a backup on my mom's street (she ended up with good coverage on her insurance) that is what the town did, it came and shut off the backflow value to the whole street to stop it from getting any worse, they were fast enough that only a certain number of houses closest to the issue were effected, instead of a whole area.
http://livingmydreamlifeonthefarm.wordpress.com/