Is it safe to stay in a house with sewage backup? Health departments do not give a single yes or no, and for good reason: the answer depends on who lives there, how much sewage came in, and how far it spread. What they do offer is a set of factors that can be weighed.
This post covers staying put. The steps a household takes first are on the Pittsburgh page for backups.
Connecticut's health department says sewage carries bacteria, viruses and other germs capable of causing disease, enough to leave a contaminated house unfit for living. The illnesses it names as most common are stomach problems and skin rashes or infections. The University of Michigan document adds that people with weakened immune systems, or who are more susceptible because of age, medication or underlying illness, are at greater risk of serious infection than healthy people.
How the illnesses themselves arise is explained in the routes by which sewage can make a person ill.
Ohio, Connecticut and the other health sheets agree on one point: keep children and pets out of the contaminated area until it has been properly cleaned and disinfected. The advice is about the area, not the whole house, which is why the extent of the spill matters.
A backup confined to a basement utility room is not the same as sewage in a finished living space. Connecticut lists sewage that has stayed indoors for over a day in a finished living space as a case favoring a professional cleanup, and the University of Michigan document calls for unprotected occupants to be moved out of affected areas during the first stages, until sewage has been removed and disinfectants applied.
Foot traffic can carry residue elsewhere. The Michigan paper notes that contaminants can be tracked by occupants' feet to other areas.
Connecticut tells households with a backup not to flush toilets and to turn off power if there is standing water or a risk of wires touching water. CDC adds that anyone who can reach the main power switch only by entering standing water should call an electrician instead.
Ohio calls backup odor unpleasant but generally not harmful, though ventilation is advised during cleaning. Indiana says food and cosmetics that touched wastewater should be thrown away. CDC cautions that a flooded house can carry mold or sewage contamination that makes people ill.
The dangers agencies list for a flooded lower level, from contaminated water to electricity, are gathered in why agencies warn about standing water in a basement.
No agency named here sets a rule on sleeping in a house during a backup, so a household with an infant, an older relative or someone with a health condition may want to ask a doctor or the local health department. If sewage is on the floor, a cleaning company in your part of town can be requested through the Contact Us page.
Sewage in the house right now?
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