With 16 calls coming into City Hall complaining of sewage backflows during heavy rains last summer, F.C. Director of Public Utilities Brenda Creel reported that smoke testing and other measures to identify inflow and infiltration leakage in the City’s sewer system has so far covered 40 percent of the system, with another 40 percent due by March 2012.

The system can handle “halftime at the Superbowl,” City Manager Wyatt Shields told a Council work session Monday, but persistent rains overflowing and co-mingling sewage and storm water systems create problems. Whether the burden of making necessary improvements and repairs on pipes running on private property should be born by residents is an issue the Council will need to determine.

Putting the burden on the homeowners would be “a big deal,” Shields said.