Many many years ago, Lansing, like most cities, used their sanitary sewer system to handle their storm water from the streets. And at a time when most cities dumped their raw sewage directly into rivers and lakes, a little storm water didn’t really matter.

But, when the feds stepped in and said that all that sewage must be treated, that storm water became a problem. A sudden down pour could flood the sewage treatment plants and cause an over flow. And over flows resulted in fines.

So, cities, all over the US, started separating their storm water from their sanitary sewer. And to do this, they had to dig up their streets and install new underground drain pipes for the sole purpose of handling storm water.

For the past few years, Lansing has been making the transition of separating their storm water from their sewage. They have been digging up their streets and installing large culverts just for the storm water.

Unfortunately, the culverts that were installed were not large enough to handle the storm water. So, when Lansing gets a good hard rain, not only do the streets flood, but the storm drains blow water up into the air, much like a geyser.

Now, street flooding is not a big issue but building flooding is. Those same storm drains that were blowing out water in the streets are connected to the floor drains in our parking ramps. And since all of the street water has no place to go, it backs up into the parking ramps.

Yesterday, after a flash flood, we had about 3 inches of water in the parking ramp. This occurred just before quiting time. But a little water can not deter a state employee at quiting time. They just walked through the water, shoes and all.

If this continues, they are going to have to make the parking ramp a “no wake” zone.