Maintaining the safety of a home is a top priority for all homeowners. Because a home is a personal haven for families as well as being one of the most important financial investments that people can make, ensuring that it is well maintained safely is a priority. While some safety measures in a home are easy to define, there are other things that contribute to the safety of a home that require a diligent effort to recognize and be proactive in ensuring that it is properly managed. This is the case with municipality obligations for property protection.
It is important to understand how local municipalities can either be helpful in protecting homes or actually be responsible for creating damage to people’s homes by neglecting their governmental duties. Certainly, protecting a home is multi-faceted with a focus on protecting the structural and mechanical aspects of a home being the top priority. One of the more serious types of structural damage occurs in cataclysmic damage from storms.
While some damage to a home from natural disasters is difficult to protect against, there are certain things that can be done to help protect any home from certain cataclysms. As an example, protection against forest fires and structural damage from heavy wind storms can be reduced by limiting trees directly next to homes. In most cases, the number one cause of structural damage in wind storm events is from trees falling on the roofs of homes.
Municipal Tree Maintenance
When it comes to municipalities, one of the biggest ways they can help protect homeowners, is by ensuring trees are properly maintained that overhang powerlines on streets or on land that abuts personal properties. Keeping the tree lines properly maintained is essential to protect individual homes and power line systems that feed the electricity to homes.
Municipal Sewer and Wastewater Function
Another area of concern that can cause significant safety problems for your home that is affected by municipalities, is wastewater when it gets backed up. This can occur for a variety of reasons including broken sewage pipes, tree roots, inefficient systems and system decay. Towns that are proactive in properly maintaining their sewer lines will usually be quick to detect and remedy wastewater problems before they get out of hand.
Many municipalities today, use radar level transmitter systems to help protect against wastewater backups that can occur. These systems have proven to be quite effective in wastewater management. Improper wastewater management can affect the quality of water systems as well. Keeping tabs on the quality of public water is important for homeowners and their families safety.
Municipal Storm Drainage Maintenance
Municipalities also have a significant responsibility to protect against flooding during storm systems that can be caused by lack of proper storm drainage within their community. Insufficient storm drainage as well as not properly maintaining storm drainage systems can cause flooding on streets and in neighborhoods which can seep into homes and other buildings. Before any significant storm is set to occur, it is the responsibility of the local municipality to ensure that all storm drains are cleared of debris that could cause potential backups and flooding.
To protect against any of these problems within towns and communities, property owners should be sure to contact their local government if they see a potential problem in any of these municipality maintenance areas. Remember, these governments are responsible to protect their citizens and their properties within its borders from harm in any way they can.
