Our neighbors here on coveted Spring Avenue have been talking a lot lately about water. Many of us have lived here 10 years or more, and for some reason, we're all having major water problems now - within the last year - when we never had them before. There just seems to be A LOT more water gushing down hill, flooding yards, seeping into old foundations, overwhelming sump pumps, than there was before.

Speculation is rampant; we had curbs put in about 5 years ago, is that the problem? Or is it the couple of big new houses built uphill from us all, somehow adding to the problem? Is it the neighbor down the hill who built an addition, and maybe hit an underground spring while digging the foundation? Or did the Village do something new to the storm sewers?

It's interesting to learn, too, that most of these smaller, older homes did not have sump pumps in them until we all started adding on and having to add them. Many houses that haven't built on still don't have them.

Nobody seems to know why the sudden soggy problem; the only thing we know for sure is that suddenly none of us feels that we can leave our houses when it rains, for fear of what might happen next.

So what I'm asking y'all is - has any other area in GE suddenly started experiencing these problems? Does anyone think any of our speculative questions are valid? Could this be some massive Village conspiracy to help out local plumbers and carpet shops??

Any thoughts?

Scribbler - I am hearing the same thing from folks who live in my part of town as well as from people who live in other communities in and around Chicago.

I wonder about the levels of rain / severity of the storms. I haven't been able to find any historical comparison, but I'm wondering if we are experiencing more rain / more severe or heavy rain in the past couple of years than in the past or at least the most recent 10-20 years. I'm not suggesting that we never had rain or flooding in the past, just did we have this much in a 2-3 year time frame?

Or it could be a little of both.

We've had some water-related issues in my condo association as well (near COD) - from what we've determined so far, we've got some underground springs, like half of GE, the ground has been frozen, and we've gotten a lot of heavy rains during the winter season (that downpour around Christmas, when first we had a big thaw, then a huge storm, but still had frozen ground, didn't help anything). One of our owners had some direct issues, and she's lived there 28 years with no water problems - and we've had no new construction or roadwork, really. But, could there be a combo of construction and all of the other elements? Wouldn't be surprised. Our engineer has told us the water table is very high lately as well. I'm assuming that's prevalent through the whole area.

Here’s one more thought to throw into the mix: Like most municipalities in this area, Glen Ellyn’s water system used to pump and distribute well water. We were using more water than Mother Nature could replace, so the water table was slowly dropping throughout the western suburbs.

About 15-20 years ago or so we switched over to piped-in Lake Michigan water. Since then, the water table has been slowly replenishing itself and creeping back up. (This can be easily seen in the open well within Sracy Tavern’s kitchen; the water level in it is much higher today than it was a decade or two ago.)

Much of the land east of Spring is relatively low — flood plain for the East Branch of the DuPage River — and was swampy in the ‘50s and before. My guess is the pendulum is swinging back, Mother Nature has returned, and she wants her swamp back.

There are lots of low-lying, once-upon-a-time swampy areas throughout Glen Ellyn. (The Longfellow/Whitter area just south of the tracks — once known as “Foot Lake” — comes to mind, as does our Cottonwood and Willow tree filled backyard near Five Corners.). My guess is most of these formerly swampy areas will again have flooding problems as the water table continues to rise.

Many years ago I passed a new development with the name, “Sunken Meadows” on the entrance sign. Sounded lovely... until I realized that “sunken meadow” simply meant, “swamp.” —Ted E.

Relatively recently I was talking with an engineer who specializes in water drainage, and as best I can recall he said that historically GE has been horrible in terms of planning for and requiring provisions for water runoff resulting from development. Don't know how accurate it is, and it is just one person's opinion.

I do know of 2 different situations in my immediate neighborhood where "downhill" homes experienced water problems for the first time ever following the clear cutting of long time wooded areas and the construction of 2 new homes. And anyone who has had construction done near them knows how useless the village is in terms of requiring that builders respect their neighbors' rights

I know during one recent massive home construction near me they were doing some impressive excavation and laying of huge concrete pipe. When I called the village to ask they said they were taking advantage of the construction to make some improvements to the areas storm sewer system - adding or expanding a catch basis ISTR. Sorry I forget any specific terms.

And when the medical practice on Duane and Park tore down that house to lay a parking lot, they installed quite a bit of structure under the asphalt.

So if the village was somewhat negligent in the past, perhaps they are getting their act together somewhat.

What's with all the floating man-hole covers lately? In the last few storms I've seen them pushed off near the library, at Park and Fairview, and on Hill near Prospect. I've only lived here for 13 years, but don't remember seeing this before.

Could this have anything to do with the sewer lining the village has done over the past few years? Did that significantly reduce the sewer's capacity?

The good news is, it's not all some grand, isolated plan to move all us out of our Coveted Spring Avenue Homes...

The bad news is, WE'RE ALL DOOMED!!!

I, too, wondered if the intensity and number of major rainfalls we've had lately is a culprit. I guess it's a perfect storm - pardon the expression - of all of the above. I was talking to my friend in Australia; she lives in Melbourne, just a little bit away from all those horrible wildfires. They've been in a severe drought for years; I have water in my basement on a regular basis. If only there was a way to ship all our water Down Under.

Seems like we've been averaging a couple of 50 or 100-year rains every year here!

That block between Park and Forest a couple of blocks S of Hill - the one with the open space in the middle of it - has had a pump pushing water out into a sewer on Park for at least 2-3 days now. Or as the resident said when I walked in the area the other day, "Welcome to Waterworld!" Nice if you can keep your sense of humor!

That "park" was actually a lake at some time in the past. I guess that is why the street along the south end between Park and Forest is called Lakeview. Part of that neigborhood is a flood zone.

What Park?

It shows up as a park on some maps, but my understanding is that it is privately owned by the homes that surround it. It is the interior of the block bounded by Park on the E, Turner on the N, Forest on the W, Lakeview on the S.

One block S of Park and Hill, on the W side of Park.

The last time I drove down Park, between Turner and Lakeview Terrace, there was a long blue hose coming from between the homes on Park and emptying into the storm sewer with water pumped from this area.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: moonwalk,

quote:

Originally posted by moonwalk:
The last time I drove down Park, between Turner and Lakeview Terrace, there was a long blue hose coming from between the homes on Park and emptying into the storm sewer with water pumped from this area.

Wow!

It's AMAZING that no one mentioned that upthread!