Sewer backup causes headache for London woman faced with repair bill from city

A London, Ont.,woman could be on the hook for a hefty bill from the city after a sewer backup flooded her basement with sewage.

Karen Ramsay, who has lived in her home on Ada Street for more than four decades, said the backups have been a constant problem over the last three years.

Every few months, Ramsay would find the sewage had forced its way up through a drain in her basement floor.

"It was at least 10 to 15 feet of water coming back on the floor, not deep, or anything like that," she said. "But then there's toilet paper and you've got everything else that went down the drain coming back."

Each time the sewer backed up, Ramsay said she would have to call a company to clear the line, to the tune of $375. She estimates the backups have cost her as much as $3,000 over the years.

The root of the problem

The most recent backup occurred on July 5. Ramsay said city workers came three days later to do repairs on the sewer line at the edge of her property.

That's when she learned the pipe was clogged with roots, that likely belong to a tree on city property.

"They had their camera and the camera wouldn't go any further, and then their eel wouldn't go any further. And the worker told me it was tree roots," she said.

Despite this discovery, Ramsay may still be required to pay for the repairs to the sewer line according to city bylaw.

On Tuesday, the city's civic works committee discussed a letter Ramsay wrote requesting compassionate compensation.

Scott Mathers, London's director of water and wastewater, told the committee there are two options in this kind of situation.

"One is that they pay up front, or the other is that it be put onto their property taxes over a period of 10 years, with an interest rate of 2.79 per cent," Mathers explained.

Ramsay says the second option would require her to pay $117 for five months of the year, over the next decade a cost she can't afford.

"I've got my CPP and my guaranteed income supplement and I get part of a widow's benefit," said Ramsay, whose husband passed away in 1999.

"That all comes to about $1500 and something a month. And I have a mortgage and taxes and insurance just like everybody else has to pay too."

At the end of the month, Ramsay says she'd be left with a little over $100 to cover food and transportation.

'Where am I going to go?'

She's worried she may be faced with the prospect of leaving the house she has lived in for 43 years.

"I worked two jobs and I worked weekends after my husband died, just to stay here," Ramsay said. "I like my house. I've got a nice garden, you know, I like living here."

"Where am I going to go? There's no affordable housing for seniors that's decent enough to live in."

Ramsay still has one possible avenue for compensation from the city.

The civic works committee voted on Tuesday to refer her case to the London's risk management division, which assesses claims for property damage where the city may be responsible.

According to the city's website, claims typically take three weeks to review and investigate.

Whatever the outcome, Ramsay hopes she can continue to grow old in her own home.

"I'm really keeping my fingers crossed. That's why I did what I did, that's why I wrote the letter," she said. "I just want to be able to live here until I'm 75 or 80 or 85."