Over the summer D.C.'s sewer system backed up into the basements of Bloomingdale homes so often it was a like a nightmare that wouldn't end for Semon Holmes.

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"When we walked down the stairs,” Holmes says “The water came up to our ankles."

While plans and projects are in the works to fix the city pipes that overflowed into houses around Rhode Island Avenue multiple times this past summer storm season, the city council Tuesday decided something had to be done in the meantime to help residents pay for the damage.

D.C. residents across the city will see an extra 30 cent charge on their water bills. Those extra funds will go into a relief fund for any D.C. home that suffers damage due to a sewer line back up.

It is a stop gap. City leaders say the extra 30 cents per monthly bill would approximately amount to $1 million for a fund that will pay for damages suffered between June of 2012 and the end of September 2014.

The fund ends around the time the flooding issues are expected to be fixed.