Chicago City Sewer Back up questions

[Ben Nantell]

Hey BP Team,

I have posted to this forum before about some main line sewer issues i've had since purchasing a triplex on the west side of Chicago. In 2020 I had 4' of main sewer line replaced, had ongoing issues after that. Was told there were issues on the city side of the sewer line, was then told by the city that the work had been done, I never saw anybody come or saw any torn up road for service, but I took the cities word for it. Since then I've had small backups in the basement unit, have had to rod out and jet the line probably 5-6 times in the last two years. 

Today I had the worst incident ever. From what my plumber told me the city sewer had backed up and forced my ejector pump to burn out as it dead headed against the back up. This failure resulted in 4 inches of water in the basement. I'm being told my home insurance policy will not cover any of the restoration and that in order to fix the solution for good I need to install a flood protection back flow system. This would require a new catch basin and new ejector pump in the front of the property and cost over $10,000. I'm struggling to comprehend the costs of the emergency plumber, restoration and then the new flood protection system. Well over $20,000 potentially and I've already spent about that trying to remedy the situation over the past 3 years. I'm told this has to do simply with the city sewers backing up into my mainline. 

Can someone please help me make sense of this, does this like a reasonable fix? Are the costs I've incurred standard rates or am I being given the price of someone who doesn't seem to know what they're doing? Is there any way I can get this work covered under my insurance policy? Does the city have any actual responsibility in this matter? My research tells me the city won't do anything but it seems that this issue keeps happening because of their backups? 

Any help in the matter would be greatly appreciated. I am meeting with a plumber on site on Thursday and would love to collect as much information as I can before that. 

Thanks again! Cheers - Ben

[Ben Nantell]

Thank you everyone. A quick update. The damage is way worse than I originally thought, apparently due to the back up there was water coming up not only through the downstairs, shower and toilet but also bursting through the foundation and up through multiple tiles. It's a big mess. I reached out to the emergency plumber that rodded that line and he told me that when clearing the line they went from my cleanout (which is 15' from the city connection) about 60' towards the city so he estimated they cleared a blockage at least 30' on the city side. Is this something I can get the alderman involved in? I am going to file an insurance claim as well in hopes I have some assistance. I'm seeing this as a $50,000 + bill with necessary damage repairs and fixing the actual plumbing problem. 

@Jonathan Klemm Is this something your plumber could help me through ? I honestly just don't know where to turn at this point, any help is greatly appreciated.