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Water slowly subsides from Ogden basements after reservoir leak fixed, residents say

Posted at 10:06 PM, Aug 17, 2015
and last updated 2015-08-18 00:06:09-04

OGDEN, Utah -- More tests were done in Ogden on Monday to determine why thousands of gallons of water are pouring into Ogden basements every day.

Monday marked the 50th day since the flooding began, which started with two homes and escalated to 17. They are all a located in the Douglas Street area.

Last week, Pineview Water Systems discovered and fixed a leak in the reservoir above the homes. They believe that could be responsible for at least some of the flooding. They are now monitoring if the water going into people's homes subsides.

On Monday, Pineview conducted further tests on the Ogden-Brigham Canal. No leaks were discovered.

Flood victim Susan Lundell said she's glad these tests are being done, but also wants to know what took so long.

"To me they should have taken care of it so there are only two houses not 17," Lundell said. "Day one they should have been out here doing a lot more instead of just saying, 'It's not us, it's us, it's not us.'"

Flood victim Jessica Smith, with the advice of a geohydrologist, has gone out on her own and installed the most high-tech water measuring device she could find.

"What we are doing is we are monitoring how much water exactly is coming out, per hour, per two hours, per three hours," Smith said.

She said she doesn't trust Pineview's way of measuring the water coming into in her home.

"Pineview is using the stand and look in a bucket method. They'll come to our house and they'll stick our sub pump hose in a bucket and they'll watch it and they'll time how long it takes to fill a five-gallon bucket and they'll write that down and they leave and come back the next day and start all over again," Smith said.

Smith and her neighbors say the flooding has slowly subsided since Pineview Water Systems discovered and fixed a leak in their reservoir last week.

"Our floors are starting to dry up we have dry patches that have never been there before, well for the past 50 days," Smith said.

"The water is a little bit less so that's good it's going down," Lundell said.

Pineview is now in the process of sending insurance adjusters to the victims' homes and assessing the damages, but that does not mean they are paying for anything.

"They told us numerous times, 'Don't think you are getting paid, don't think this is a claim that is being processed, we're out here to look at the damages and waiting for Pineview's investigation to be complete,'" Smith said.

Pineview Water Systems General Manager Terel Grimley said it could take weeks to determine whether the majority or all of the water flooding the homes is from their reservoir. However, he said if it is they will compensate the home owners.