The problem has been there for decades, and how it should be handled has been debated for just as long.
However, recent heavy rains have brought the topic of how to deal with stormwater problems in Jefferson City back to the surface.
More than 30 homes and buildings in the Capital City were damaged by flash flooding events in August and September.
At the City's Public Works and Planning Committee meeting Thursday, Jefferson City Public Works Director Matt Morasch called these events "100-year storms" because there is a 1 percent chance of that amount of excessive rainfall happening in a given year.
Many of the structures affected were around Wears and Boggs creeks.
The area near Stadium Boulevard and Satinwood Drive was hit hard, and Morasch said city officials will be meeting with residents in that area about their concerns.
On Jason Drive, a sink hole that had been developing after the August rains became much worse after the September storm.
Jeff and Tammy Ogden, who live in the Valley Park West subdivision on Valley View Court, told the committee despite some improvements made to pipes a few years back, their cul-de-sac continues to flood any time there is a heavy rain.
"We later discovered that water from the Missouri Boulevard extension and Capital Mall were routed to come through our subdivision and through a nearby creek," Tammy said. "We'd like to get the pipe under Schellridge enlarged because it is basically creating a dam for water routed through the creek. It cannot flow freely through it."
Tammy said their property erodes every time it rains, and since they having flooding on a regular basis, there is a lot of pressure on their backflow valve.
"Now sewer water comes up through our shower in the basement because of the frequent flooding," she said. "The value of our property has greatly decreased because of this."
According to Morasch, a lot of the stormwater infrastructure is 25-50 years old and is past its useful service life.
City officials estimate there is $15 million worth of stormwater repair based solely on residents' reports, and overall needs probably total $30 million. There's $120 million worth of infrastructure in the city.
A decade ago, a committee worked to come up with a master plan but could not reach a consensus, mainly due to the cost of the repairs.
Currently, the only funding provided for stormwater infrastructure costs is from a portion of the capital improvement sales tax.
Morasch said the funding from the sales tax provides only $360,000 a year when the city needs about $2 million in replacements and renovations to pipes and inlets.
"We have a minimal service level when it comes to stormwater," Morasch told the committee. "We don't have a fee or utility at this point to fund those infrastructures. If you are wanting to take care of stormwater, well, a utility is probably the way to go."
Morasch said that would require residents to vote on the matter. He said in the master plan they looked at how much of a fee they would need to charge to raise a certain amount each year. The average range was $3.50-$4.50 a month.
"When you're a homeowner, you would rather pay a smaller amount than thousands of dollars at one time for a repair job," 3rd Ward Councilman Ken Hussey said. "I think we need to do more than than just tell citizens we don't have money to make the repairs. We have a wastewater utility that does very well and has funds to take care of issues that come up."
City Administrator Steve Crowell said they also need to keep in mind while there are stormwater problems that need to be addressed, the city has other issues to deal with that will also require more money.
The committee made no formal decision but told residents who attended it would continue looking into a possible solution to the problem.