Sewage Cleanup in Salt Lake City, UT

Salt Lake City Public Utilities (SLCPU) operates a predominantly separated sanitary sewer system that has been significantly modernized in recent decades, making Salt Lake City's chronic sewage backup risk lower than that of comparable-age eastern US cities that have not yet separated their combined sewers. However, the extraordinary snowmelt events of the 2022-2023 season demonstrated that even modern separated systems can experience inflow and infiltration (I&I) surges during extended high-water events that saturate soils around sewer laterals and allow groundwater to enter the system through pipe defects. During peak 2023 snowmelt in March and April, SLCPU reported I&I rates 300 to 400 percent above normal, stressing the system and generating backup conditions at low-elevation lateral connections throughout the city's older neighborhoods. The most vulnerable properties for sewage backup in Salt Lake City are those with aging clay-tile laterals in the older sections of the Avenues, East Bench, and Capitol Hill neighborhoods — where root intrusion and joint displacement create conduits for groundwater entry that dramatically increase I&I during high-water periods. Canyon community properties served by small gravity systems in Emigration Canyon and Millcreek Canyon face additional risk from debris-laden stormwater infiltrating sewer laterals during canyon flood events.