How to get rid of water with high water table?

[Highbeam]

I am an engineer for a public works department in a city government. We gladly accept the discharge from sump pumps, gutter downspouts, and yard drains into the city storm utility. That's what it's for, and pumping it anywhere else just floods your neighbor. Just don't pump your sump pump water into the sewer line, that pi$$es us off.

When you have a high water table and dig a big hole, you get a big pond. When you put a plastic tank in the big hole and pump the tank out, you get a dock. Given your basement and no grade for the lot, you have no choice but to pump this groundwater down to a level below the basement. You say you have an existing sump pump, well why not route all of your groundwater collection drains to that pump? That pump runs to the city system right? It must go somewhere. If the existing pump is at capacity or in a difficult location to add more lines, then you can certainly add a second, third, or fourth sump pump.

 

[JimMorrissey]

I'd be careful about that. Frankly I wouldn't even ask anybody or get things stirred up. Make it as stealth at possible if you take that route. It's illegal to pump sumps to town sewer systems in our neck of the woods and I'm thinking it's the same in yours. I think it's a good idea to use a junior style leach field. That will keep it nice and dry. I'm thinking a 40 gallon plastic tank would be sufficient with a good pump and all weather cable.

You could do this in one long day with your hoe and an extension cord until the rain lets up, then run some contuit for the final electrical connection.

We're on the leading edge of this storm. Lots of rain here, but not as much as you guys. I can't believe how much rain is coming down around the NE. There some real problems ahead for MA and CT.

 

[Farwell]

I do not think that a sewer system is what is planed for the excess water. A storm drain is for collecting excess rain or ground water and in most communities pumping ground water or accumulated rain water into storm drains is a good thing in most cases. The water flows by gravity to a river, stream, lake or to a central pumping station where it is pumped to a water holding area of some sort.
Most areas in California that are densely populated have to have storm drains or suffer a lot of flood damage and I assume this is true in most cities where excess water can cause flooding.
Most areas have laws that punish people that put water into sewer systems that does not come from the household or business inside plumbing.
Farwell

 

[Highbeam]

"Most areas have laws that punish people that put water into sewer systems that does not come from the household or business inside plumbing."

It is complicated because there was a time not so long ago that adding storm water to the sewer actually helped with dilution and since the combined storm/sewer system just drained to the river the end discharge was less potent with storm water added for dilution. So what you have is a bunch of these sump pumps that were lawfully hooked to the sewer.

This practice is no longer encouraged but you can hardly punish the existing systems.

We pump smoke into the sewers now to look for smoking gutters. We make these people connect their gutters to the storm system. Trouble is that the smoke won't feed through a sump pump.

 

[Highbeam]

"Most areas have laws that punish people that put water into sewer systems that does not come from the household or business inside plumbing."

It is complicated because there was a time not so long ago that adding storm water to the sewer actually helped with dilution and since the combined storm/sewer system just drained to the river the end discharge was less potent with storm water added for dilution. So what you have is a bunch of these sump pumps that were lawfully hooked to the sewer.

This practice is no longer encouraged but you can hardly punish the existing systems.

We pump smoke into the sewers now to look for smoking gutters. We make these people connect their gutters to the storm system. Trouble is that the smoke won't feed through a sump pump.

 

[JimMorrissey]

Correct. Except many communities have combining systems. Might be worth checking out casually.

 

[JimMorrissey]

Correct. Except many communities have combining systems. Might be worth checking out casually.

 

[JimMorrissey]

Interesting about the smoke. I think water disposal is a substantial issue in many communities with topography......They're not that vigilant here, but we don't have near the population sizes. We don't have zoning or building permits either, so enforcing the sewer system is out of the question, but it is illegal to pump your sump to the system. I think one of the reasons is that multiple towns share a common main processing plant and they each by by the gallon, so obviously the town doesn't want to be paying for millions of gallons of excess sump water.

 

[JimMorrissey]

Interesting about the smoke. I think water disposal is a substantial issue in many communities with topography......They're not that vigilant here, but we don't have near the population sizes. We don't have zoning or building permits either, so enforcing the sewer system is out of the question, but it is illegal to pump your sump to the system. I think one of the reasons is that multiple towns share a common main processing plant and they each by by the gallon, so obviously the town doesn't want to be paying for millions of gallons of excess sump water.

 

[jim_wilson]

I knew not to dump the sump water down the sewer - I actually did it for a little while with the sump down in my basement because there was nowhere else to dump the water during one storm but I knew it was a no- no. I am about 99% sure that the storm drain and sewer systems are separate here - the sewer lines just went in a few years ago and they did not hook up storm drains to them - the storm drains were already in existence before that. I have to think this out a little but I think my best option at this point would be a combination of a leech field - running the pipe to daylight if the grade will support it - and then setting up something as a backup that will pump the water to the storm drain when the water table gets too high. I will check with the town that dump the sump and gutters and such into the storm drain is ok with them. A water feature might be an option but I just dont have much land I can give up for it. This is just a 1/2 acre lot.