The DWSD Basement Backup Protection Program: Detroit Addresses Only

What is the DWSD Basement Backup Protection Program?

It is a Detroit Water and Sewerage Department program that helps eligible Detroit homeowners install a backwater valve or sump pump to reduce basement sewage backups. Reporting described up to $15 million of federal ARPA money across 11 neighborhoods, and over 1,900 applications had been filed by late 2022.

Detroit's sewers are largely combined, which means rain and household wastewater share the same pipes. In a heavy storm those pipes can fill faster than they drain, and sewage is pushed back through the lowest openings in homes, usually basement floor drains. DWSD created the program in response, and its purpose is narrow: it pays for or helps with protective devices inside or at the edge of the house, so that when the system surcharges, the water does not come back into the basement.

The device at the center of the program is a backwater valve, a one-way valve in the house sewer line that closes when flow reverses. The program was also described as covering a sump pump, which deals with groundwater rather than sewage. The money was reported as up to $15 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds spread across 11 Detroit neighborhoods, delivered in phases. Warrendale, Chadsey Condon and Garden View were named on the phase-two list in the coverage this guide draws on.

That coverage is from 2022. We have not been able to confirm the program's present funding, open phases, application window or rules, and a program of this kind can change, pause or close. Treat everything here as background about what the program is, not as current instructions. For the current position, the only authoritative place to ask is DWSD.

Who qualifies, and are Dearborn, Taylor or Livonia residents eligible?

No. The program is for Detroit addresses only. A home in Dearborn, Taylor, Livonia, Dearborn Heights, Hamtramck or any other separate city is not eligible, however close to Detroit it sits. Even within Detroit, eligibility depends on DWSD's rules, so ask DWSD before assuming a particular address qualifies.

This site serves 25 areas around Dearborn, and only four of them are Detroit neighborhoods. The other 21 are separate cities, townships or Dearborn's own neighborhoods, and none of them can use a program that Detroit's water department runs for Detroit's own customers. That includes East Dearborn, West Dearborn, Springwells Park, Melvindale, River Rouge, Ecorse, Allen Park, Lincoln Park, Dearborn Heights, Redford, Inkster, Taylor, Wyandotte, Southgate, Garden City, Hamtramck, Ferndale, Livonia, Westland, Romulus and Canton.

Mailing addresses and ZIP codes do not always follow city limits, so the test is the municipality that sends your water and sewer bill, not the name on the envelope or the ZIP code. If you are unsure whether your address is in Detroit, check your tax or utility bill, or ask your local city hall.

For the four Detroit neighborhoods, the table sets out what the reporting says and what it does not. Reporting named Warrendale among the phase-two neighborhoods. For Southwest Detroit, Brightmoor and Far West Detroit, the reporting we have does not name them on that list, and that is not the same as saying they are excluded. Whether a given block qualifies is DWSD's determination, and so is the rule on who counts as eligible, whether owner-occupancy, income or other criteria apply. We have no source for those criteria and do not guess at them.

Where do you ask, and what does this company have to do with it?

Ask DWSD, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, through the City of Detroit's website at detroitmi.gov or its customer service line. Dearborn Water Damage Restoration does not administer, process or influence the program, cannot apply for you, and cannot promise any application outcome. Its role starts with cleanup and drying if water gets in.

To be completely clear about the relationship: this website and its phone line are not part of DWSD, the City of Detroit or any government program. The call line connects people with a local restoration crew for water cleanup. It has no connection to who gets approved, no role in deciding eligibility, and no way to speed an application up or to rank one ahead of another. Anyone who suggests otherwise about this or any similar program should be treated with caution, and you should never pay a third party to apply to a public program on your behalf without checking first with the agency.

If you live in one of the Detroit neighborhoods, go to the source. The City of Detroit's site, detroitmi.gov, carries DWSD's pages, including its notices about stormwater and floodplain projects; search there for the Basement Backup Protection Program, or call DWSD's customer line listed on your water bill. Ask four things: whether the program is currently open for your address, what it covers, what documents it needs, and who does the work. Ask for any answer in writing, and keep it.

None of this tells you whether an application would succeed, and nothing here predicts it. The same caution applies to the cleanup side. If water has already come in, a crew can extract it, remove contaminated materials, dry the structure and take moisture readings that you can share with your insurer, and what your insurer pays is for the insurer to decide.

What can a Dearborn, Taylor or Livonia homeowner do instead?

Ask your own city's Public Works office what serves your address and whether any local program exists, ask a licensed plumber about a backwater valve and sump pump, and ask your insurer about a water-backup endorsement. Dearborn's flood information is on its city website. We have not confirmed any comparable suburban program.

A suburb's absence from the Detroit program does not mean it has no options, but we are not aware of a sourced equivalent and will not invent one. What every homeowner outside Detroit can do is a short list, and each item starts with a phone call to someone local.

Start with your city. Dearborn, Taylor, Livonia and the others each have a Public Works or DPW office and a building department; those are the right place to ask what kind of sewer serves your street, whether the city offers any help or has a claim process, and whether a permit applies to a plumbing change. In Dearborn, the city's published flood information describes a stormwater system built for about three inches of rain in 24 hours, which met over 7.5 inches in about six hours in June 2021, with lower, pre-war east Dearborn hit hardest. What the city says about your street is the question to bring to Public Works.

Then there is the plumbing. A backwater valve and a sump pump are plumber's work. We have no sourced price for a valve and will not guess at one; the cost guide covers what cleanup typically costs, not plumbing installations. Get several written quotes and check that the contractor is licensed.

Finally, insurance. The Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services (DIFS) says water and sewer back-up is not automatically covered, so ask an agent about a back-up option before a storm. Federal flood insurance typically takes 30 days to go into effect. Our guides on sewer backup in a Dearborn basement and sewer backup insurance in Michigan go through the practical steps.

How do a backwater valve and a sump pump differ?

A backwater valve is a one-way valve in the sewer line that closes when sewage flows backward from the main, stopping it entering through floor drains. A sump pump removes groundwater collected in a basement pit. They address different pathways, so a home may need both, and each needs periodic checking.

People often treat the two as interchangeable, and the program's pairing of them can add to the confusion. They solve different problems. Sewage returning through drains is a pipe-pressure problem, and the valve is the fix. Water seeping through foundation walls or up through the floor after heavy rain or snowmelt is a groundwater problem, and a sump pump moves it out. A valve will not help if the water is coming from the ground, and a pump will not stop sewage coming through a drain.

Both can fail without anyone noticing. A valve flap can stick on debris and fail to close; a pump can fail if the power goes out in the same storm that overloads the sewers, which is why battery backups are discussed. Neither is a promise that a basement will stay dry. Our guide to sump pump failure and a flooded basement explains how to check a pump before a storm.

One more practical point: with a valve closed during a surcharge, wastewater from the house cannot leave through the same line, so use of toilets, showers and washing machines should be minimized until the storm passes.

What if water has already come in?

Treat water from a floor drain as sewage: stay out of it, keep children and pets away, avoid wet vacuums, photograph the damage and call for a crew. Phones here are answered 24/7, and a crew is dispatched as fast as one is available. The estimate is explained and approved by you before work starts.

Prevention programs address the next storm. If water is already in the basement, the job is different: removal of contaminated material, cleaning and disinfection, and drying. Sewage-contaminated porous materials such as carpet, pad and insulation are discarded rather than dried, because they cannot be proved clean. The full list of what is discarded and what can stay is in our guide to sewer backup in a Dearborn basement, and the sewage backup cleanup page describes the job.

Call (833) 490-5225 if you are anywhere in the area this site serves, including the four Detroit neighborhoods. Being in Detroit does not change the cleanup, and being outside Detroit does not change the call; what changes is only whether the Detroit prevention program applies to you.