A swollen creek jumps its banks, the basement fills in minutes, and before you can grab a broom the whole place smells like a backed-up sewer. In that chaos you need to decide fast; is the water merely dirty, or is it black water-Category 3 contamination that can threaten your family’s health long after the puddles dry?
“Black Water” vs. Gray Water
Floodwaters are not all the same. Clean water, usually from a broken supply line, or rainwater that sneaks into your basement before it touches the ground. Gray water comes from showers or washing machines – soap scum, light soil … not too much human waste to be concerned with. Black water is different. Black water has come into contact with raw sewage, street runoff, or overflowing rivers that have swept the water across farm fields and factory lots. Click here to learn more about black water.
Don’t trust your eyes. Black water can look as clear as tap water. Instead, trace the source. If the toilet overflowed, or if the storm surge rose through your drains, treat every drop as Category 3. The million-dollar question. Because it is loaded with pathogens, insurance companies require professional emergency water extraction and disinfection before they will sign off on repairs.
What Makes Sewage Toxic?
Black water is a living broth of bacteria, viruses, and parasites. E. coli and Salmonella (see https://www.hhs.gov/answers/public-health-and-safety/what-is-the-difference-between-salmonella-and-e-coli/index.html for additional info) can cause intense stomach cramps and fever. Hepatitis A can exist in as little as 1 milliliter of black water. These microbes can stay adhered to porous materials, such as drywall and carpet pad, or on porous surfaces, (like wood walls) after the standing water has been pummeled away and were effectively there waiting to be disturbed and, ultimately, stirred up into the air.
Can Black Water Cause Mold?
Yes, very quickly. Mold spores are long dance behind and drift invisibly to the naked human eye virtually everywhere in these incomplete rooms. Once they find food and moisture, they will be mist, and so black water finds them food, perfect food and the moisture, soaking the drywall, soaking the sub-floor and anything organic is left behind for the mold to thrive on. Mold will develop in only 24 to 48 hours, and you will, as time goes forward, the mold will release allergens, mycotoxins, and irritants.
Time is the key. Time is only saved when acting early. Professionals using structural drying equipment – high velocity air movers, desiccant dehumidifiers, and, if needed, moisture meters – will be able to pull a water loss from any hidden spaces as fast as they can. And to realize the significance of not taking action is to essentially open a floodgate that opens one up to a horrible and costly full mold remediation service that takes everything out – all of the walls – not just the affected ones from the first flood.
Safety Steps Before Help Arrives
Take a second, calm yourself down, and take a look at your scene; going through basic procedures upfront saves you mistakes later that will cost you dollars or will potentially cost you a trip to the hospital!
- Do not step in the water! Get a tetanus shot! There are sharp things that can cut you. And electrical lines may not be turned off and maybe under the moisture can be live electrical lines.
- Turn off the electricity spanning the affected areas and remove everyone from doing anything with the wet electrical panel; don’t go to the main breaker, ever!
- Block it off! Get children, pets and even people with a weak immune system upstairs or outside.
- Open the windows on the dry side of the house. They do nothing to stop the humidity, but they do help dry the humidity – don’t blow contaminated air into your clean rooms!
- Call for help! Strictly Cleaning Restoration is one company who can extract sewage, ensure safe bio-hazard waste disposal, and complete restoration work that is required. Their crews are always available immediately they come extract water and spray disinfectant when safe to do so.
When to Re-enter Your Home
Re-entry is a reference point, not a celebration, and do not mistake one for another; you must have every effected area or material safe and removed before you can actually protect your family.
You can only safely re-enter after you have cleared the three reference points:
- Contaminated materials / contents are removed from the site. All carpets, all carpet padding, and insulation, and all porous materials below the flood line should go to a proper disposal site. Hardwood floors can be saved if they dried properly and were decontaminated right away but all particle board cabinets will go.
- Surfaces passed microbial tests. Restoration technicians swab cleaned walls, floors and HVAC ducts, and compare the bacteria counts against their baseline readings. If the bacterial counts exceed their baseline readings, disinfection is required.
- The structure is dry. The moisture meters should read the same value as on a surface reading previously untouched in the home. Remember, even a month and a half later, if even a very small moisture reading is left inside a wall cavity, mold and bacteria can grow even with no fresh water source to propagate their action. Depending on the company, a reputable company will put in writing logs showing their daily moisture meter readings.
