We are fortunate that where we live, there's about a foot of really nice top soil above about 100' of sand. Water table is about 40' down. No one in my neighborhood has a sump pump for ground /rain water. There are NO groundwater issues in the basements in our area. The houses were built in the late 20's through 50's. There's no perimeter foundation drains on any of them. No need. If you have the landscaping sloped properly, all rainwater drains away from the houses to the streets. Some people with laundry or bathroom in the basements have a sump pump to pump a couple feet up to their sewage discharge pipe level, but we don't. Our washing machine pumps up about 3' then through a pipe in the wall and out to a drainage field.
New construction requires perimeter drain tiles that come into the house to a sump pit that would pump any water back outside. Most of those pits are dry as a bone. Never needed on this side of the county. In other areas of our county, there are more clay-like soils, high water issues, septic issues, poor drainage issues, etc.... and the need for sump pumps.
