Sanitary Sewer

1. Sewer Backups: Most sanitary sewer backups are located in the private lateral service line. The property owner is responsible for maintaining service lines. Occasionally, there is a problem in the mainline.  If you are experiencing a sewer backup in your home or business, contact Public Works at 864-967-9531 during normal business hours.  After hours contact the Simpsonville Police Department at 864-967-9536 and the problem will be dispatched out to our emergency personnel.  If it is determined the problem is in your service lateral, contact a plumber.
2. Sewer Odor:  If you experience a sewer odor, you may not have a sewer backup.  It may be a dry trap in your sink, shower, or tub.  Run water in each of these to replenish the trap.
3. Sewer Tap Locates:  If you need to locate your tap (where your service lateral connects to our sewer main), the cost for the City to locate the tap is $100. Click HERE to obtain a Sewer Tap Locate form.  Complete the form and return it to Public Works along with the check to: City of Simpsonville Public Works, 110 Woodside Park Drive, Simpsonville, SC 29681.  We will then locate the tap and mark the location in the street. 
4. Clean out Caps:  Please ensure the cap is properly seated on your sewer clean-out pipe, if you have one.  The white cap should be visible in your yard above ground level.  If the cap is missing or the pipe is damaged, please make the repair and/or replace the cap. This will keep rainwater out of the sewer system which uses up capacity for sewer and creates backups or overflows.
5. Sewer Maintenance Issues: The City routinely cleans our main lines.  When we are cleaning in your area, you may experience a surge of water in your toilet and/or hear strange sounds from your plumbing.  If you call us and tell us that our cleaning caused water to spew from your toilet, we will make a note and leave you a message to cover your toilet(s) with a towel before we clean the next time.
6. Prevention of backups and overflows:  You can assist us in reducing backups of sewer into your house or overflows in our system by not flushing paper towels down toilets and/or pouring grease down the drain.  Grease will stick to the insides of sewer pipes. Over time, the grease can build up and block the pipe entirely causing a backup. Never pour grease down the drain or in a toilet.  Scrape grease and food scraps from plates and cookware into cans for disposal.  Use basket/strainers in the kitchen sink to catch food scraps and empty them into the trash for disposal. These are other items that should not be flushed into the sewer system:

• Cigarette butts
• Facial tissues
• Moist wipes like baby wipes, disinfectant wipes, etc.
• Toilet bowl scrub pads
• Swiffer pads
• Napkins (paper or cloth), paper towels
• Dental floss
• Egg shells, nutshells, coffee grounds
• Fats or oils
• Hair
• Sanitary napkins, condoms, or any non-organic material
• Vitamins, medicines, or other pharmaceuticals
• Plastic of any kind
• Diapers (disposal, flushable or cloth)

1. Relocation of sewer lines:  If it becomes necessary to relocate an existing sanitary sewer line, obtain a Drainage/Utility Easement Abandonment Application prior to any work.  Click HERE to obtain the form. Complete the form and return to Public Works at 110 Woodside Park Drive, Simpsonville, SC  29681.
2. Sewer Easements: The City maintains a 25' easement along all its sanitary sewer main lines (12.5' on each side of the sewer line).  No permanent structures including buildings of any kind, swimming pools, walkways, drives, etc. can be constructed within the easement.  If it becomes necessary to encroach within a sewer easement for any reason, click HERE obtain a Sewer Line Easement Encroachment agreement.  Complete the agreement and return it to Public Works, 110 Woodside Park Drive, Simpsonville, SC  29681.
3. Ownership/maintenance of Sewer Lines:  The City of Simpsonville owns, operates, and maintains only the sewer main often found in the street.  Ownership and maintenance of the sewer lateral, up to and including the connection to the sewer main, which runs from a building to the sewer main is the responsibility of the property owner.  

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