Onondaga County
Drain, Sewer and Sump Pump Work Across the Town of Cicero
A flooded Cicero basement is far more often a sump pump that lost the race than a sewer that backed up, and those are different jobs at different prices. The town's hazard annex records a storm dropping up to six inches in a short time in which many homes around Brewerton flooded because the pumps could not keep up.
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Six inches of rain and the Brewerton sump pumps that lost
The Town of Cicero annex to the 2025 county hazard mitigation plan records a storm producing up to six inches of rainfall in a short time over urbanized land, in which many homes in the Brewerton area experienced significant basement flooding because sump pumps could not keep up with the inflow, and flooding of local roads and drainage systems lasted several hours. The same annex names Cicero Swamp at Route 298 Rattlesnake Gulch, Beach Road, Mud Creek at Hogan Road, Jemola Runne and Cicero Mills, Kathan Road backyards, properties on Route 11 backing onto the Interstate 81 corridor, and Vistula Road as prone to flooding in heavy rain.
Source: Onondaga County 2025 Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan, accessed 2026-09-08
The Brewerton Water Pollution Control Plant at 5215 Guy Young Road opened in 1974 after the Lakeshore Sanitary District consolidated three smaller plants, Beechwood Farms, Harbour Village and Oneida Park. It is fed by a series of pump stations leading to two trunk sewers, Lakeshore and Orangeport, which bring wastewater from portions of the Town of Cicero, Bridgeport and the Village of Brewerton.
Source: Onondaga County Department of Water Environment Protection, accessed 2026-09-08
The Oak Orchard Wastewater Treatment Plant at 4300 Oak Orchard Road in Clay, operating since spring 1981, serves a large section of the Town of Clay as well as portions of the Town of Cicero and the Village of North Syracuse through a network of gravity sewers and pumping stations. It replaced the Davis Road Treatment Plant, which had discharged low-quality water and become a public hazard and is now a pump station.
Source: Onondaga County Department of Water Environment Protection, accessed 2026-09-08
WEP names three causes of basement backups: blockages in the sewer line, inflow during heavy rainfall overwhelming the sewer system, and tree roots infiltrating sewer pipes. Its published prevention steps are to keep fats, oils, grease and wipes out of the drain, to check for sump pumps, roof drains and gutters wrongly connected to the sanitary sewer, to eliminate or redirect an unneeded basement sewer connection, to plug or fit a one-way device to a basement floor drain that connects to the sanitary sewer, and to have a licensed plumber install a backwater valve, which must be inspected and cleaned regularly. The department warns that while a backwater valve is holding back a surcharge it is also stopping flow from leaving the house.
Source: Onondaga County Department of Water Environment Protection, accessed 2026-09-08
Share of housing built before 1950 in the towns of Onondaga County: Skaneateles 42.5 percent, Geddes 37.5, Marcellus 36.4, DeWitt 24.5, Salina 24.3, Onondaga 17.1, Van Buren 15.8, Manlius 14.8, Lysander 14.3, Cicero 10.6, Camillus 9.2 and Clay 5.6, against a county figure of 28.5 percent. The 1940 to 1969 shares run the other way: Camillus 53.4 percent, Geddes 51.6, Salina 47.7, DeWitt 43.3, Manlius 36.2, Skaneateles 33.4, Onondaga 33.0, Van Buren 32.9, Cicero 31.4, Clay 29.4, Marcellus 26.5 and Lysander 17.9, against a county figure of 34.8 percent.
Source: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, accessed 2026-09-08
Groundwater or sewage changes the quote entirely
Tell us what the water looked like and where it came in and we will say which problem this is.
Which end of Cicero you are on decides who to call
Cicero is served by two different county plants, and the right contact depends on which end of the town your address sits in. The north drains to the Brewerton Water Pollution Control Plant on Guy Young Road, opened in 1974 after the Lakeshore Sanitary District consolidated three smaller plants and fed by a chain of pump stations into the Lakeshore and Orangeport trunk sewers. Other parts of Cicero go to Oak Orchard in Clay. Neither is Metro, so a Cicero main that has stopped moving is a pump station question first. What the town's own record shows about wet basements is more useful still. The county hazard annex describes a storm producing up to six inches of rainfall in a short time over urbanized land in which many homes in the Brewerton area experienced significant basement flooding because sump pumps could not keep up with the inflow, and it names Cicero Swamp at Route 298 Rattlesnake Gulch, Beach Road, Mud Creek at Hogan Road, Jemola Runne and Cicero Mills, Kathan Road backyards, properties on Route 11 backing the Interstate 81 corridor, and Vistula Road as prone to flooding. That is groundwater beating a pump, not sewage coming back up a pipe, and the answer is pump capacity, a second pump and a battery backup rather than a drain repair. Only 10.6 percent of Cicero housing predates 1950, so a failed clay joint is the less likely finding here. The county's own list of backup causes puts blockages, wet weather inflow and tree roots first, alongside sump pumps, roof drains and gutters wrongly connected to the sanitary sewer, and that last one is the item you can have checked in an afternoon.
Wet basement and drain work we arrange around Brewerton
Clogged and Slow Drain Cleaning
Get one slow or blocked fixture running again, and find out whether the fault stops at that fixture or carries on out to the street.
Drain Cleaning in Cicero →Sewer Line Cleaning and Root Removal
Clear the one pipe that carries the whole house out to the street, take the roots or the grease out of it, and establish where along that run the blockage actually sat.
Sewer Line Cleaning in Cicero →Sewer Backup and Basement Flooding
Get the line open and the house draining again, then establish whether the water came from your own lateral or from the system in the street.
Sewer Backup in Cicero →Sewer Line Inspection and Repair
Find out what is actually wrong with the lateral, how far along the run it sits, and whether the answer is a cleaning, a spot repair or a replacement.
Sewer Line Repair in Cicero →Tell us what happened in your Cicero basement
Send your ZIP code and what you saw. There is no obligation, and if this is a pump rather than a pipe we will say so.