Sump pumps & sewage

Hi, I have a very basic question.

I've recently moved to a home in N.Virginia and this is the first time that I have had a home with a sump pump. This is a home in a city, so there is municipal water services, etc.

The basement has been finished out by the previous owner, and there are two sumps, each with its own pump. Each sump is covered but not sealed. There is no separate sewage sump.

My question is simple. I have noticed that the waste water from the basement toilets goes into the sump. Is this normal? It doesn't seem right to me, but before I call in a plumber to validate whether the systems in the basement have been correctly installed, I wanted to check with the forum.

Appreciate anyone taking the time to let a newcomer know the facts about sumps, water pumps etc and whether or not they should be handling human waste too.

 

welcome to the forums,
if the sumps are hooked to municipal sewage it would work, however it is not correct, for one thing the sewage sump should be sealed in the basement to prevent the entry of sewer gases, for another thing sump pumps for ground water should not be hooked to sanitary sewers due to overloading the sewage system during high rain events. most municipality's are starting to fine homeowners who hook up eves and sumps to the sewer systems. in Norman a couple of years ago they smoke tested all lines and if your eve drains were tied in you got a short time to disconnect that or pay a fine.

life begins when the kids leave home and the dog dies.

 

It sounds to me as if one sump receives wastewater from the basement toilet, lavatory, etc. Its pump should discharge into the sanitary sewer system, the system that takes sewage from other fixtures in the house and conveys it to the municipal sanitary sewer in the street. The sump and pump are needed because the sanitary sewer in the street is too shallow for gravity drainage of wastewater from the basement of the house.

The other sump is for storm water, which includes ground water. This water is clean and OK to discharge to creeks and rivers. The storm sump pump should discharge to the same place your roof downspouts discharge to...either the yard, the street or (possibly) a municipal storm water system.

 

Thanks for the responses. Just to clarify - there are two toilets in the basement and two sumps. One toilet flows to one sump, the other toilet to the other sump. Since the house is in a large town, I believe that the sumps are pumping out to the municipal sewer system rather than any sort of drain field.

It is surprising to me that it is acceptable to have human waste from toilets directed into a sump that has openings on the lid, in such a way that odors could escape into the basement - not to mention the potential for solids to clog the sump pumps etc. Is this accepted practice under normal building codes?

Many thanks for the replies to date.

 

the answer is in my first post, no the sumps should be sealed. i believe you will need to have a licensed plumber examine your system and bring it up to code for health reasons.

how come common sense isn't common?

 

Sumps should be sealed, with a vent to the roof.

Depending upon the house's configuration, it sounds odd that two basement toilets would discharge to separate sumps...and there would not be a sump to catch ground water.