Of course natural geography plays a major role in both cases, but the sewage backup problem in this case seems at least partially manmade. > Some date the begi

Of course natural geography plays a major role in both cases, but the sewage backup problem in this case seems at least partially manmade. > Some date the beginning of the problem to the 1986 completion of Interstate 255, which looped traffic around the southern edge of the Metro East region, and was eventually (in 2002) declared by the Army Corps of Engineers to be impeding the flow of water from Centreville into the Harding Ditch, the drainage canal designed to collect surface water from the American Bottom and carry it to the Mississippi. The situation has only deteriorated in the meantime.