Cleveland's sewer system, by the numbers
According to the City of Cleveland's Division of Water Pollution Control, the city's collection system includes about 1,435 miles of sewer lines, roughly 43,500 catch basins and storm drains, and 11 pump stations. All of it carries flow to three treatment plants owned and operated by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD).
The NEORSD's Project Clean Lake, a 25-year program agreed to in 2010, is building tunnels and treatment upgrades to cut combined sewer overflows to Lake Erie by about 4 billion gallons a year. That work rebuilds the public backbone. It does not touch the private side: the building lateral, the parking-lot storm lines and the catch basin leads that sit on your property.
When a Cleveland property needs a camera inspection
- Before you buy, refinance or redevelop. A camera inspection of a building lateral is far cheaper than finding a collapsed clay pipe after closing.
- Repeat backups or slow drains. Video shows whether you have roots, grease, a sag or a broken joint, so you fix the cause instead of paying for the same clearing every few months.
- Before repaving a lot. Inspect the storm lines and catch basin leads first. Paving over a broken pipe means cutting new asphalt later.
- Capital planning. Coded defects and severity grades let a property manager or board rank repairs and budget by year.
- NEORSD grant work. Communities applying for Member Community Infrastructure Program (MCIP) funding often need documented pipe condition. See our MCIP grant support page.
What you receive
Every inspection is recorded and coded to the NASSCO PACP standard: each defect is located by footage from the access point, classified (structural or operation and maintenance) and graded for severity. You get the video, a written report with photos of each finding, and a short plain-English summary of what needs attention now, what can be planned, and what is fine. Engineers get the coded data they need for design; owners get an answer they can act on.
Who to call for what in Cleveland
If the problem is in a public sewer under the street, the City's Division of Water Pollution Control is responsible. The building lateral and any storm piping on private property are typically the owner's responsibility, so check with the City for your specific address. That private side is where we work: commercial and industrial properties, apartment buildings, HOAs, schools and institutional campuses.