Sewer Backup Cleanup in Allentown, PA

Since August 2013 the sewer under your Allentown street has been run by the Lehigh County Authority on a 50-year lease, and it ends at the Kline's Island plant: roughly 1,000 miles of pipe, 15 municipalities, about 270,000 people. LCA's 2014 Q&A said storm-time basement backups can be a common occurrence where a house sits at a low spot on the gravity system with its pipes below grade.

Then there is the wall you share. Row houses and other attached homes are about 36 percent of the city's housing, and in a twin or row a backup can reach the basements on both sides of one party wall. When both basements take sewage, Advanced DRI starts at the door next to yours and treats the two sides as one wall with two faces to dry.

Which Basement Takes the Surcharge: the Low Spot on a Gravity Main

A gravity sewer runs one way, toward the plant. Kline's Island sits inside the city, its bypass discharges to the Little Lehigh just above the creek's mouth on the Lehigh, and the Little Lehigh Parkway area is where LCA's and other municipalities' lines tie into the city system.

That is why one block backs up while the house uphill stays dry. When a main fills, the level inside rises like water in a standpipe, and a basement with a floor drain below that level takes flow. The lowest houses on a downhill row are the most exposed, and in a twin that can mean both halves.

Not all of the rain gets in from the street. LCA's 2014 Q&A put up to 40 percent of storm rainwater entering the sewers on the homeowner side (laterals and unauthorized connections such as sump pumps and floor drains), against about 600 miles of small lines and 17 miles of interceptor. The basement at the bottom of the run pays for connections upstream of it.

Kline's Island: a 40 MGD Permit, the Bypass Hours and Two Ten-Year Programs

EPA's administrative order of September 28, 2009 reached Allentown and 14 other connected parties, 11 municipalities and three authorities, over untreated wastewater discharged at the Kline's Island bypass, and set December 31, 2014 for ending sanitary sewer overflows. LCA's 2014 presentation lists the bypass hours: 3.41 inches on February 13, 2008 opened it for 8.5 hours; in 2011 Irene held it open 19.25 hours and Lee 23.5.

Then came the wet years: about 80 inches of rain between August 2018 and July 2019 against a 45-inch normal. In January 2019 a 6abc report put about 14 million gallons of untreated sewage into Little Lehigh Creek, and in August 2019 the plant was declared hydraulically overloaded.

The city's ten-year Inflow and Infiltration Source Reduction Program began in 2023 at roughly $50 million, recovered through a Capital Cost Recovery Charge on LCA bills, and a regional Act 537 plan of about $318 million went to DEP on October 7, 2025.

Two Basements, One Party Wall: Cleaning Up a Twin or Row Home

Sewage against a party wall soaks into the shared masonry from whichever face it touched, so we meter both faces first. If the neighbor's side reads wet it gets its own containment, since negative air on one side pulls through gaps at the joists. Paneling, furring and base trim come off both faces to the same height, and the wall stays open until it reads dry from both basements; a wet half rewets a dry one.

LCA's late-2024 newsletter draws its water-service line at the curb box: LCA from the main to the curb box, you from the curb box into the house. That line covers water service, so ask LCA where its responsibility for your sewer lateral ends before you pay a plumber. Its 2014 Q&A recommended asking a plumber about a backflow-prevention device and disconnecting the basement floor drain from the sewer. In a twin or row, one open drain is still a path into the shared wall.

The same newsletter says most standard policies do not cover water and sewer backups, though endorsements are available, and in 2014 LCA told Kline's Island customers to ask their insurer about sewer backup protection. A Pennsylvania agency serving Lehigh County describes it as an optional water backup and sump discharge endorsement, so ask your agent whether your policy carries it.

Recent Restoration Work Near Allentown

From the Allentown Office job log, as posted on our Google Business Profile. Details are kept general to protect client privacy.

How a Sewer Backup Cleanup Job Runs in Allentown

1. 1

   Tell the neighbor next door and stop water on both sides

   LCA's late-2024 newsletter says not to flush or run water during a backup. In a twin or row that covers both kitchens until we know which drains took the flow, so the first knock is next door, then (610) 365-4011.

2. 2

   Contain and pump both basements at the same time

   Each basement gets its own negative-air containment and HEPA filtration. Extraction runs on both sides at once so emptying one half does not draw sewage back through a shared pipe; solids are bagged and hauled.

3. 3

   Note which drains took the flow on each side

   We record which floor drain or fixture backed up in each basement so a plumber can check the line before it is used again. A main still running full is reported to LCA's city emergency line, 610-437-7515.

4. 4

   Strip the party wall to the higher of the two waterlines

   Both faces come down to the higher line, so neither side keeps a wet strip the other has removed. The slab and the lower masonry are disinfected on both sides.

5. 5

   Dry the shared masonry until both basements read the same

   Air movers and dehumidifiers run in both basements, with readings from your face and theirs at every visit. Moisture logs and photos carry the date of the backup for the adjuster, and neither side is rebuilt until the wall reads dry.

6. 6

   Cap the floor drain before the paneling goes back

   The backflow-prevention device and the drain disconnection LCA recommends are plumber's work, done on both sides where both basements took sewage, before either basement is finished again.

Sewer Backup Response Times From the Allentown Office

Crews dispatch from 801 E. Fairmont St, Allentown. Typical drive times below are for normal traffic; during a regional storm we stage additional equipment and may route the nearest available crew.

Within Allentown: Lehigh Parkway (South Side), Mountainville (South Side), Dutch Hill, Overlook Park, The Waterfront (Lehigh riverfront), 1st Ward, 6th Ward, Jordan Heights, East Allentown, Old Allentown Historic District.