Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority officials said Monday that they're studying the size of sewer pipes, the number of sewer lines and the impact of commercial development, among other factors, as they seek answers to chronic flooding in the East End.

City Councilman Doug Shields organized the community meeting after a wet summer that spawned repeated flooding and culminated Aug. 19 in the deaths of four people in a flash flood on Washington Boulevard.

Residents expressed frustration with the authority, saying it's done little to address flooding problems that go back years in some cases. They also accused the authority of bad customer service.

"I feel I'm being ignored," said Brad Wade of Swisshelm Park. Mr. Wade, who has repeatedly had water come up through basement drains, said the authority hasn't returned the three phone calls he's placed since 2007.

Mr. Shields also took the authority to task for poor customer service and for "constantly rediscovering problems" without fixing them.

Authority officials were frustrated, too, saying they're doing their best to cope with a limited capital budget, a backlog of complaints and especially wet weather.

"I can't stop it from raining," Tom Palmosina, the authority's interim co-executive director, said.

Authority spokeswoman Melissa Rubin said residents have responsibilities for storm-water management, too, asserting that grass clippings, dog feces and garbage sometimes are dumped into catch basins.

"They're not trash cans," she said.

About 35 residents attended the meeting at the Jewish Community Center -- a far cry from the 300 or so who turned out last month for a similar meeting that Councilman Bill Peduto held in Shadyside.

In addition to authority administrators, city Public Works Director Rob Kaczorowski and representatives of Allegheny County Sanitary Authority attended Mr. Shields' meeting. Mr. Shields complained that only one of six authority board members, Robert Jablonowski, attended.

In recent months, Mr. Shields said, his office has logged 70 flooding-related complaints, including 40 in the Squirrel Hill business district. Mr. Shields said he doesn't want businesses to pack up and relocate, calling the business district a key revenue generator for the city.

Ray Baum, president of Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition, called the flooding "a very serious problem," and Dave Tkacic, general property manager at Equity Real Estate Services Inc. in Squirrel Hill, said his clients repeatedly have suffered losses.

"It's just going to continue to happen," he said, adding that the company's own offices have been flooded five times since June. He said he's grown weary of making insurance claims.

Mr. Palmosina said the authority is asking many questions about its system, such as, "Do we need to add more catch basins? Do we need to increase the size of our sewers? ... Is the system big enough?"

He said he hopes at least some of those questions will be answered by a storm-water management study that's just under way. When he said the study would take months, some residents in the audience groaned.