Hydro Jetting in Bowie, MD

Signs your Bowie sewer line needs more than a snake

• The basement floor drain or lowest shower fills when a toilet is flushed
• The washing machine drain makes toilets gurgle
• The main line was cabled within the past year and is sluggish again
• A cleanout cap in the yard or basement shows standing water
• Roots or a gray, waxy coating came back on a previous cable

Bowie has two sewer systems

Bowie is unusual in Prince George's County because the city runs its own wastewater system for many of the 1960s Levitt and Sons sections. The City collects and treats sewage at its Bowie wastewater treatment plant for neighborhoods including Kenilworth, Tulip Grove, Somerset, Yorktown, Whitehall, Foxhill, Meadowbrook and Rockledge. The rest of the city is on WSSC Water. Your bill tells you which one you have.

That matters when a backup hits. In the City sewer area, the city maintains only the mains, and the homeowner is usually responsible for blockages or breaks in the sewer house connection running from the house to the main. A backup inside the home is a job for a plumber. For a suspected problem in a city main, Bowie Public Works takes water problems at 301-809-2344, with after-hours calls going through the Police Communications Center at 240-544-5700. In WSSC areas, the WSSC Water emergency line is 301-206-4002.

Bowie's median home dates to 1981, but the Belair sections are about two decades older, so lines there have had more years to collect roots and buildup.

What affects the cost

• Where the cleanout is, and whether a toilet has to be pulled to get in
• Distance from the house to the main
• Soft grease versus a dense root mass
• Adding a camera run before or after the cleaning
• Evening and weekend timing

If the camera turns up a broken section that needs replacing, that repair is plumbing work permitted through WSSC Water, which issues plumbing permits throughout Prince George's County.

What happens when you call

The number on this page links you with an independent plumber who serves Bowie. Mention your neighborhood, whether your sewer bill comes from the City or WSSC, and which fixtures are backing up. Until the line is cleared, skip laundry and dishwasher loads so less wastewater stacks up behind the blockage.