05/23/2026
Public Works Week 2026
The Infrastructure Most People Never See
Most people never think about the sewer system unless something goes wrong.
But beneath Waynesboro are 137 miles of sewer lines, 3,532 manholes, thousands of cleanouts, aging clay pipes, hidden easements, pump stations, roots, groundwater infiltration, and infrastructure that has to function every single day — often without anyone ever noticing it exists.
For the City’s Sewer Division, that invisible work never really stops.
“We used to be a lot more reactive,” Brian Fitzgerald explained. “Something would fail, back up, or overflow, and then you’d respond to it. But there were places we couldn’t even get to anymore.”
Some sewer easements had become so overgrown over the years that crews could barely locate the manholes hidden underneath them.
“With the new brush cutter, we started uncovering areas people hadn’t accessed in decades,” Brian said. “Some of those manholes were completely hidden.”
What began as repeated sewer problems near the Shenandoah area eventually expanded into a broader preventive maintenance effort throughout the City.
Now, using the City’s new sewer flush truck alongside underground camera inspections, crews are systematically cleaning, inspecting, and evaluating sections of sewer line before failures occur.
The flush truck uses high-pressure water jets capable of cutting roots, clearing grease buildup, removing gravel and debris, and restoring flow inside sewer pipes.
“It breaks through with forward jets,” Brian explained, “and the rear jets pull everything back to the manhole.”
But the real transformation isn’t just cleaning the lines.
It’s finally being able to see underground.
“You really need that camera in there,” Corey Snyder said. “Otherwise you’re basically blind. The flush truck and camera truck together give us the ability to actually understand what’s happening underground.”
That visibility changes everything.
A sewer backup call may initially appear to be a simple blockage. But once crews inspect the line, they may discover root intrusion, broken joints, pipe offsets, groundwater infiltration, damaged cleanouts, or larger structural failures that require replacement.
Many of Waynesboro’s older sewer lines are still made of vitrified clay pipe — shorter pipe sections connected by joints where roots and groundwater can enter over time.
“The majority of the problems are in the older clay lines,” Corey explained. “That’s where roots get in through the joints.”
Crews are now replacing sections of aging clay pipe with PVC and upgraded gasket systems designed to reduce infiltration and root intrusion.
But the work is complicated.
Some areas are low-lying and prone to overflows during heavy rain events. Some sewer infrastructure crosses wooded easements, golf courses, and difficult terrain. Some problems only reveal themselves after storms, holidays, or periods of heavy usage.
“You can feel the difference when it rains,” Brian said. “The last few weeks were dry and we barely had sewer calls. Then it rains and suddenly you’re getting multiple calls.”
Holidays can create similar spikes.
“More people in homes, more laundry, more food waste, more dishes, more usage,” Corey explained. “That’s when things hang up.”
And many of the blockages crews encounter are preventable.
“Flushable” wipes that do not actually break down, grease poured down drains, towels, toys, broken cleanout lids, roots, and debris all contribute to sewer backups crews respond to throughout the year.
“We’ve pulled towels out of lines,” Corey said. “Grease is another major issue.”
The crews also monitor known overflow locations during heavy rain events, checking manholes throughout the City when storms move through.
“When the system overloads, it has to find somewhere to go,” Corey explained.
If overflows occur, crews respond by clearing blockages, restoring flow, removing solids, disinfecting impacted areas, and following behind with camera inspections to identify the larger issue causing the problem.
Behind all of it is work most residents never see:
Clearing easements.
Inspecting underground lines.
Mapping infrastructure.
Replacing aging pipe.
Preventing repeat failures.
Reducing infiltration.
Protecting waterways.
Protecting public health.
And increasingly, shifting the City’s sewer system from reactive emergency response toward long-term preventive maintenance.
“It’s only going to benefit the City in the long run,” Corey said. “Less infiltration. Less root intrusion. Less manpower going back to the same locations over and over again.”
Even the new flush truck itself changed daily operations for crews.
The previous equipment required workers to physically wrestle heavy sewer hoses manually.
“This new truck is hydraulic,” Brian explained. “The old one would jerk you around. This one is a whole lot safer.”
For residents, most of this work remains invisible.
But every cleared line, every inspected manhole, every replaced section of pipe, and every prevented backup helps keep essential infrastructure functioning beneath the City every single day.
