Detroit sewer repair: 9,000 lines fixed free by 2030

DETROIT. The city is fixing 9,000 broken sewer connections between houses and the street, at no cost to homeowners, using $184 million drawn from federal disaster recovery money tied to the August 2023 floods. About one in three private sewer lines in Detroit are cracked, offset, or collapsed, some of them 60 to 90 years old, and they're behind much of the basement backups and alley cave-ins the city already deals with. A private fix normally runs $10,000 or more.

Repairs start in October, with low and moderate income neighborhoods going first, and the city is aiming to finish everywhere by 2030. Homeowners don't need to sign up. The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department will pick the addresses and leave a door hanger before crews arrive, and most jobs take a day or two without touching anyone's drinking water.