– The way I see it, the municipal water will destroy our house. That’s what Phillip Hartvoll, who lives in Valhallagata in Lund in Kristiansand, says. The torrential rain that came last week led to several basements in the neighborhood being filled with water for the third year in a row. – Water came up through the municipal pipes and through the wall from two different sides in the basement, says Hartvoll. Sewage came from the drain on the bathroom floor. – When the water receded, there were clumps of poo left behind, scattered across the floor. The reason is that the municipality’s drainage pipes are undersized common pipes for storm water and sewage. – The cellar was almost finished after the water that came last year. Now it’s back to work with plastering, insulation and replacement of door frames and doors. Hartvoll has spent the entire paternity leave and over half a million kroner on refurbishing after the injuries. – I think there is a direct connection between lack of pipe capacity and damage to housing, says Hartvoll. Now the family is considering moving. – But who wants to move in here? This is what it looked like in Phillip Hartvoll’s basement earlier this week. Photo: Phillip Hartvoll This is how it looked in Phillip Hartvoll’s basement earlier this week. Photo: Phillip Hartvoll This is how it looked in Phillip Hartvoll’s basement earlier this week. Photo: Phillip Hartvoll The municipality cannot be loaded Although the municipality also sees this connection, they do not agree that they are responsible for the water leaks. – There is legal practice which says that the municipality cannot be charged or held responsible for the damage that occurs, says Torleif Jacobsen, head of water and sewage in Kristiansand municipality. That is because the pipes were laid and dimensioned, many years ago, according to the current norms and rules for drainage pipes at the time. Torleif Jacobsen is head of water and sewage in Kristiansand municipality. He understands the frustration of the citizens. Photo: Leif Dalen / news – Terribly expensive – The challenges are due, among other things, to the fact that we have not separated the common lines that are in the area, says Jacobsen. He explains that common lines mean lines where storm water and sewage run in the same line. – When we separate, we increase the size of the pipes quite significantly, and put storm water and sewage in separate pipes. But Jacobsen says that they cannot design for extreme rainfall events. – It would have been terribly expensive. In August 2022, Philip Hartvoll measured the water level in the cellar at 55 cm. – We have done everything in our power to make the cellar as little exposed to water damage as possible, says the homeowner. Nevertheless, the water penetrates in. – The washing machine flew around, says Hartvoll about the water leak last year. A lot of property has been damaged as a result of the water leaks. Sinkhole – unknown to the municipality It is not just missing pipes that are the problem, Hartvoll believes. – There is a sinkhole just centimeters from our property boundary. He says that it has gone from being a depression in the asphalt to a very, very open hole. – When there is a lot of rainfall, it disappears down the hole and into our house. It is the municipal road that is not in order. Water and drainage manager Jacobsen does not know about the sinkhole in Valhallagata. – We need good floodways, so that water is diverted away over the ground. Many measures are being taken there, both on private development areas and on public roads, says Jacobsen. In addition to a lack of pipe capacity, Philip Hartvoll points to a sinkhole as the reason why water seeps into his basement. Photo: Leif Dalen / news Torleif Jacobsen, head of water and drainage in Kristiansand municipality, says he does not know about the sinkhole in the street. Photo: Leif Dalen / news Risking more expensive insurance – There are no limitations in our assistance to customers. That’s what Ole Irgens, head of communications at Tryg Forsikring, says. – When the municipality fails to fulfill its obligations in the public power grid, it is the policyholders who have to pay the bill, says Irgens. Repeated damage within a certain period of time can lead to the deductible being increased. – This is disappointing for us as a company, but not least for the customers, who both have to live with repeated water damage – and in addition may receive more expensive insurance premiums, because the risk of damage from living in an exposed area will be higher, he says. Communications manager at Tryg Forsikring, Ole Irgens, says that the deductible can be increased in the event of repeated injuries within a certain period of time. Photo: press photo The same conditions apply to the insurance company If, says communications director Andreas Hadeland. They also have no restrictions on their assistance, but that the price of insurance may increase if the risk becomes greater. See what If insurance answers at the bottom of the case. Demand repayment from the municipality Irgens says that they regularly contact relevant municipalities in the event of flood damage and demand repayment from them, so-called recourse. – We very rarely come forward with such demands. However, the municipality and the insurance companies have a common interest in reducing flood damage, but we understand that tight municipal finances often limit the public’s ability to invest, he says. Figures from Norsk Vann, which is the national interest organization for the water industry, show that there is a need to invest NOK 81 billion in pipelines for water, and NOK 114 billion in pipelines for sewage until 2040. – The backlog in the municipal sewage network in Norway is massive, and the investment needs enormous, says Irgens. This is what it looked like in Phillip Hartvoll’s basement this week. Photo: Phillip Hartvoll Have to cut up walls Another resident of Valhallagata, Harald Kvalvik, says he “only” got three to four centimeters of water on the basement floor this time. – But it is enough that we have to cut up walls and let it dry for a month. The walls need new plaster and full paint, so there will be a lot of work. Then there’s household goods too, then. Kvalvik has said that he has heard talk that the work on separating common pipes in the street will start in February 2024. Water and drainage manager Torleif Jacobsen rejects this. Years of work left Jacobsen says that the municipality has been working on separating pipes in Kvadraturen and in Lund for 15 years. – We expect another 10-15 years before we finish the job, he says. Therefore, it is not easy to estimate when it is the turn of the residents of Valhallagata. – It is difficult to promise exactly. We have an unimaginable number of kilometers of pipes that we have to separate, says Jacobsen. – Over several years, we have earmarked funds for separation in Lund and in Kvadraturen, so both places are high on the priority list. Several houses in Lund have experienced water rising into the basement several times in recent years. – We are talking hundreds. There is nothing to indicate that things are particularly bad in Valhallagata, says Jacobsen. If about insurance in connection with repeated water damage What do you do in cases where people have been affected by the same damage several times? – Everyone who has valid insurance with us will receive compensation as normal, if they are entitled to this according to the terms, even if the same type of damage has occurred previously, says Andreas Handeland, director of communications at If. Is there any kind of limit on how many times people can get help from the insurance company for the same injury? – No, there are no restrictions on this now. In contrast, the premium price of the insurance may increase, as a result of the greater risk. In such cases, is there reason to worry that the insurance company will no longer cover losses? – No, as long as you have valid insurance, you should not worry about this. One concern, however, is that we may move in a direction where there will be certain areas that will not be able to be insured in the long term, because the risk of repeated injuries is too high. Nobody wants that, and that is why it is so incredibly important that climate adaptation work is taken seriously, and that increasingly wetter and wilder weather is taken into account already in the planning phase. What does it take for an insurance company to contact the municipality and ask them to correct the error? – As an insurance company, we cannot order Norwegian municipalities to correct errors. But we resort to recourse in cases where the responsibility for damage lies with others, for example with municipalities. It is important that the bill for an injury ends up where the responsibility belongs, so that the insurance collective (all customers who pay an insurance premium) does not pay out money on the wrong basis. – On a general basis, in cases due to backlash from municipal sewer pipes, we will normally send a recourse claim to the municipality in accordance with Section 24a of the Pollution Act, but all cases will of course be assessed individually.
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– The municipal government is destroying our house – news Sørlandet – Local news, TV and radio
