ABAG’s “Be Sewer Smart” - Communities and Homeowners Work Smart to Plug Holes in Bay Area Sewer Backup Defenses; Potential Savings in Millions
ABAG’s “Be Sewer Smart – Prevent Sewer Backups” campaign targets area homeowners whose most important investments may unknowingly be at risk of backup damage. It seeks to make these homeowners more aware of such events and what they can do to prevent them by distributing information and risk assessment tools through www.sewersmart.org.
Oakland, CA (PRWEB) October 21, 2004 -- The Association of Bay Area
Governments (ABAG) announced that its “Be Sewer Smart -- Prevent Sewer Backups”
public education campaign and backup prevention device giveaway has protected
communities and homeowners from hundreds of potential sewer backups in the
campaign’s first year. The Association also announced the continuation of the
backup-busting campaign for a second year. The second-year kick-off will take
place in November, to coincide with the beginning of the traditional rainy
season, and will offer new incentives to help homeowners be “Sewer
Smart.”
Through “Be Sewer Smart,” area homeowners, communities and local
businesses work in partnership to reduce the number of at-risk homes in the
backup-prone San Francisco Bay Area. As a result of the 2003-04 campaign, the
backup risks faced in local communities and the potential costs to those
communities and their homeowners to clean up the messes backups cause are on the
decline. For the first time in five years, the number of backups and associated
costs began a downward trend in the 2003/04 fiscal year.
“The Be Sewer
Smart campaign is about forming business partnerships and empowering homeowners
to reduce the risk of unnecessary backup damage,” said Scott Haggerty, ABAG
president and Alameda County supervisor. “Homeowner interest in ‘Be Sewer Smart’
has exceeded our expectations with tens of thousands of visitors to our
informative Website in the campaign’s first year. This is truly good news for
homeowners and their communities because the potential savings to both numbers
in the millions of dollars annually.”
ABAG estimates that every backup
prevented has the potential to save homeowners, businesses and their insurers
tens-to-hundreds of thousands of dollars. Communities also benefit from the
prevention of many backups. Hundreds of Bay Area homes are damaged annually by
sewer backups, with the majority of these costly events occurring during
California’s “rainy” season months of November through April. It’s estimated
that damage caused by backups costs local homeowners and their communities as
much as $20 million annually.
“Our licensed professional plumbing
contractor members are pleased to be partners in this important program to help
area homeowners and their communities prevent the costly and unnecessary damage
caused by sewer backups,” said Tom McGinley, executive director, Peninsula
Builders Exchange. “Inspection, preventive maintenance, and oftentimes a simple
and inexpensive backup prevention device,
can easily prevent thousands of
dollars in damage to a single home. Lots of homeowners think these are good,
‘Sewer Smart’ investments, and so do we.”
ABAG’s “Be Sewer Smart –
Prevent Sewer Backups” campaign targets area homeowners whose most important
investments may unknowingly be at risk of backup damage. It seeks to make these
homeowners more aware of such events and what they can do to prevent them by
distributing information and risk assessment tools through www.sewersmart.org. The
program’s Website offers easy-to-understand information about homeowners’ sewer
systems and their responsibilities, as well as simple “Be Sewer Smart” Do and
Don’t Tips for maintaining a trouble-free connection.
By the end of the
“Be Sewer Smart” public education campaign’s first year, hundreds of thousands
of area homeowners had visited the Website to find sewer maintenance and backup
prevention tips and ideas as well as to take a simple test to determine their
risk of sewer backup.
“Be Sewer Smart -- Prevent Sewer Backups” is a
public education campaign of the Association of Bay Area Governments’ Pooled
Liability Assurance Network (PLAN) Corporation. The goal of the campaign is to
prevent such backups and the damage and inconvenience they can cause.
Be
Sewer Smart Campaign Partners
ABAG PLAN Corporation is a non-profit
corporation whose purpose is to benefit the citizens of each member community by
establishing a stable, cost-effective self-insurance, risk sharing and risk
management program for each member. The PLAN was formed in 1986 and currently
has 31 member cities and towns in the Bay Area. It provides liability and
property coverage as well as a variety of risk management services such as
training, claims management, loss prevention, and consulting services. For more
details, visit www.abag.ca.gov/plan.
The Association of Bay Area
Governments is one of more than 560 regional planning agencies across the nation
working to help solve problems in areas such as land use, housing, environmental
quality, and economic development. Founded in 1961, ABAG is the regional
planning agency for the 101 cities and towns, and nine counties of the Bay Area
and is recognized as the first council of governments in California.
The
Peninsula Builders Exchange is a non-profit, member run, association. Its
mission since 1945 is to improve standards and cooperation within the
construction industry. For more information, contact PBX at 650-591-4486 or by
email at e-mail protected from spam bots.
The Plumbing-Heating-Cooling
Contractors of Contra Costa and Alameda Counties is dedicated to the promotion,
advancement, education and training of the industry for the protection of our
environment and the health, safety and comfort of society. For more information,
visit www.phccaccc.org or send an email to e-mail protected from
spam bots.
# # #
Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/10/prweb169952.htm