Detroit and regional sewer backups give homeowners a hard 45-day window, not a suggestion. Under Michigan's sewage-disposal-system-event law (MCL 691.1419), written notice to the responsible agency, either Detroit's Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) or the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA), has to go out within 45 days of discovering the damage, or you generally lose the right to claim at all. Filing on time only preserves your right to be considered, though. It does not guarantee payment: after the June 2021 storms, GLWA denied essentially all of the roughly 24,000 claims it received (BridgeDetroit, July 19, 2022). This guide walks through the process honestly: what the form requires, where it goes, and what your real options are if the answer comes back no.
Who do you actually file with, DWSD or GLWA?
DWSD is Detroit's own water and sewer utility. It bills Detroit residents directly and runs the local pipes under Detroit streets. GLWA is the regional authority that operates the interceptor system and treatment plants serving Detroit plus 77 suburban communities, a separate layer beneath DWSD's local system. The line between them is not always obvious from a homeowner's side of the pipe. The practical move if you live in Detroit is to start with DWSD: report the backup, and the agencies sort out behind the scenes whether the local system or the regional one is actually responsible. If you live outside Detroit, your own city or county is usually the first call instead, covered in our broader basement backup claims guide, which lists the filing agency for every metro Detroit county.
Step 1: Report the backup and get a Service Request number
Call DWSD at (313) 267-8000 the same day you discover the backup, or use the Improve Detroit app. Ask for a Service Request number. DWSD will not accept a damage claim without one, so this call is not optional paperwork, it is the actual first step (DWSD Damage Claims & Sewage Backups). If the regional system is involved instead, GLWA's process runs through its own Sewer Backup Claim Form, filed with the Office of the General Counsel at glwater.org.
Step 2: Document everything before you clean up
Before you throw anything out or start drying the space, take wide and close-up photos and video of the water line, the damage, and every affected item: appliances, flooring, drywall, furniture, and personal belongings, before you move them. Keep every receipt from cleanup onward: a wet vac rental, a dumpster, a plumber's invoice, a hotel stay if you were displaced. Write down the exact date and time you discovered the backup. That date starts the clock, not the date of the storm and not the date the water finally receded.
Step 3: Send written notice within 45 days
MCL 691.1419 requires written notice within 45 days after the damage was discovered, or reasonably should have been discovered. Miss the window and the claim is generally barred outright, no matter how clear the damage is.
What the notice has to say
The statute specifies the contents: your name, address, and telephone number; the address of the affected property; the date you discovered the damage; and a brief description of the claim. That is a low bar on paper, which is exactly why it is worth doing in writing and carefully, not as a verbal aside during your Service Request call.
Where the notice actually goes
Notice has to reach the specific individual the agency designates to receive it, not a general mailbox. If you contact the agency about the event, by phone or in writing, Michigan law requires the agency to give you that designated recipient's name and contact information along with the notice requirements themselves, precisely so you can comply. Ask for this in writing when you call to report the backup.
Step 4: File the claim form itself
Once you have a DWSD Service Request number, file the online Notice of Claim form (a Smartsheet form linked from DWSD's damage claims page). For GLWA, submit the Sewer Backup Claim Form to the Office of the General Counsel. Attach your photos, an itemized loss list, and your receipts, and keep a copy of everything you submit along with the date you submitted it.
What are your realistic odds of getting paid?
Here is the part most how-to guides skip. Filing correctly and on time protects your legal right to be considered, but it is not the same thing as getting paid. Under Michigan's Governmental Liability for Negligence Act, an agency is only on the hook if a defect in its sewer system was “the substantial proximate cause,” meaning at least 50 percent of the cause, of your damage. When a storm is extreme enough, the agency can argue the rain itself, not any defect, caused the backup.
Why GLWA denied almost every claim from June 2021
That argument is not hypothetical. After the June 25 to 26, 2021 storms put tens of thousands of metro Detroit basements underwater, GLWA received about 24,000 claims and denied essentially all of them (BridgeDetroit, July 19, 2022; Planet Detroit, July 20, 2022). GLWA's own investigation, an 800-page report, concluded the flooding was caused by “heavy and historic rainfall,” not a defect in the regional system (Crain's Detroit Business, July 19, 2022). Attorneys for homeowners disputed that finding and pointed to only 5 of GLWA's 16 pumps working that night. The dispute is still working through the courts years later. The honest takeaway: a denial after a major regional storm is the norm here, not the exception, and it is worth knowing that going in rather than after.
What does a denial actually mean, and what can you do next?
A denial letter is a decision point, not a dead end.
Small claims court
For losses of $7,000 or less, Michigan's small claims division (MCL 600.8401) is a low-cost option built to be handled without a lawyer. Filing fees are modest and cases move quickly, though you generally give up the right to appeal in exchange for that speed.
A lawsuit
For larger losses, homeowners can sue in circuit court, and many did after 2021; class-action litigation over the GLWA denials was still working through the courts years after the storm. This route can take years and usually needs an attorney, so weigh the legal cost against a realistic recovery before committing to it.
Your homeowners insurance
For most people, insurance ends up being the more reliable path, if the right coverage was in place before the loss. Standard homeowners policies exclude sewer backup by default, so this depends entirely on whether you added a water backup endorsement in advance. See our guide on what insurance actually covers for sewer backup in Michigan.
Is there a better bet than filing a claim?
For Detroit homeowners focused on preventing the next backup rather than litigating the last one, the city's Private Sewer Repair Program (PSRP) is currently the more useful door. It is open on a rolling basis, pays up to $40,000 to repair your private sewer lateral and add a backwater valve or sump pump, and reaches 97 Detroit neighborhoods, nearly half the city, for households at or below 80 percent of the Area Median Income who can show their home was affected by the June 2021 flood. Full eligibility and how to apply is in our assistance programs guide. If your basement just flooded and you need the call order right now, see our first-hour guide. If prevention is the better investment for your situation, our contractor directory lists licensed, insured local pros for a backwater valve or sump pump install.