Apple Lane Residents Complain of Sewer Backups

Several residents of the Apple Lane area told Upper Saucon Township supervisors Monday that sewer water backed up into their basements following a heavy rainstorm that deluged the area Aug. 28.

Sam Nguyen, of the 4800 block of Apple Lane, said he felt lucky that a relatively small amount of water backed up into his basement.

Some of his neighbors had as much as 18 inches of sewer water in their basements, he said.

Skip Hill, of the 4100 block of Apple Lane, told supervisors he captured the backup in his home on video.

He also observed a cleanup truck outside a neighbor's home for three days after the backup, he said.

"A backup of sewer water with four or five houses in succession...this seems to me there's something wrong," Hill said. "I would encourage somebody to at least investigate it."

Township manager Tom Beil told the men his office had checked township records and found none regarding reported backups "on Chestnut or West Hopewell for at least the past two or three years."

Chestnut Drive and West Hopewell Road are the cross streets that intersect with Apple Lane.

However, it is possible that backups occurred, but went unreported to the township.

Beil encouraged residents to report future sewer backups, if and when they occur, to the township.

He said the township's sewer department would investigate the sewer lines in the Apple Lane neighborhood to look for blockages or cracked pipes.

Photo: A view of Apple Lane in Upper Saucon Township (image source: Google Maps screen shot).