Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and look forward to learning all that I can being that I am a new homeowner. I appreciate all the help I can get. Here are a list of questions I am looking to get answered. They relate to my situation below if you wish to read all about it.

Are there water quality / environmental issues in discharging sump to storm water channels or local streams?

What are spacing requirements for infiltrating discharge in vicinity of wells and septic systems?

How can I estimate sump discharge rates vs. soil infiltration rates?

What is best system combination of french drains, dry wells, rain barrels and rain gardens to achieve maximum infiltration/storage, aesthetics and environmental sustainability?

My problem is that I have two sump pumps in my basement that discharge large amounts of water into my backyard. Due to the current grading and piping layout the water ends up flowing into my neighbors yard. The current system is 1 1/2 pvc piped out of my basement that extends sitting on grade approximately 40-50 feet away from my home along the bordering fence between my property and my neighbor's.

I am considering two options
1) Discharge water through buried pvc pipe to storm drainage channel in street.
2) Install Dry Well / French Drain / Rain Barrels / Rain garden or some system combing any of these elements.

Option 1: I am not sure that local code will allow discharge into the drainage channel. It appears neighbors on my street use this option so I would think its allowable. There are no storm sewers on my street and it appears all the water drains to the channel and subsequently to a nearby stream. Nevertheless, this option requires a much longer run of new pipe (100-150ft additional length) to get from my backyard to the street and it seems less environmentally friendly.

Option 2: The problem with this option is finding a location that avoids my septic system infiltration field and my well. The other concern is how to obtain the correct storage/infiltration capacity. My basement has a french drain around the entire perimeter and I do not believe my gutter system is working efficiently. After a large rain event (relatively constant rains for about 12-16 hours) I observed the sump pumps discharging continuously (several times a minute) approximately 12 hours after the rain had stopped. This seems like a large quantity of water and I am looking to fix my gutters but I would like to size the system to be conservative.

Thanks for reading.
Brian

 

I worked in your area and believe you can discharge to the street. Call the town and ask the plumbing official all these questions and he can answer better. What are you doing incase of power failure? Batterery only last a short time the what. There are many products but these are what I installed in your area. I sold alot of these. There are other makes and models so this is just my recommendation.

Do you have enough pitch to pipe to street? If not your pumps will not last to long for they are not designed to push water any real distance. Let us know.

http://www.basepump.com/images/Broch...ump%200410.pdf

 

I do have battery backups for the sump pumps which I have had issues with already. I have on site well water and from reading your product catalog sheet it looks like I need Municipal water with a pressure from 40-100psi. I am not sure if my well water system would be sufficient for your product.

 

Its not my product I am just suggesting an alternater for you. I am sure you have a deep well and the pressue would not be a problem, but the issue is powerfailure. Your well pump would not work, but city water does. Hmmm well the next thing I would talk to you about is getting a generator for your house. LOL. I too am on well and when we lost power for 4 days I wired my heat,well, several lights and tv room to the transfer switch for gen use. I have a main like 220 style plug that goes from gen to house to transferswich.

You are in Trenton area? Let me know if you need anything workwise. I am always looking for sidework.

Mike NJ ( Howell )

 

[QUOTE=Spiekz;1795878]Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and look forward to learning all that I can being that I am a new homeowner. I appreciate all the help I can get. Here are a list of questions I am looking to get answered. They relate to my situation below if you wish to read all about it.

Are there water quality / environmental issues in discharging sump to storm water channels or local streams?

What are spacing requirements for infiltrating discharge in vicinity of wells and septic systems?

How can I estimate sump discharge rates vs. soil infiltration rates?

What is best system combination of french drains, dry wells, rain barrels and rain gardens to achieve maximum infiltration/storage, aesthetics and environmental sustainability?

My problem is that I have two sump pumps in my basement that discharge large amounts of water into my backyard. Due to the current grading and piping layout the water ends up flowing into my neighbors yard. The current system is 1 1/2 pvc piped out of my basement that extends sitting on grade approximately 40-50 feet away from my home along the bordering fence between my property and my neighbor's.

I am considering two options
1) Discharge water through buried pvc pipe to storm drainage channel in street.
2) Install Dry Well / French Drain / Rain Barrels / Rain garden or some system combing any of these elements.

Option 1: I am not sure that local code will allow discharge into the drainage channel. It appears neighbors on my street use this option so I would think its allowable. There are no storm sewers on my street and it appears all the water drains to the channel and subsequently to a nearby stream. Nevertheless, this option requires a much longer run of new pipe (100-150ft additional length) to get from my backyard to the street and it seems less environmentally friendly.

Option 2: The problem with this option is finding a location that avoids my septic system infiltration field and my well. The other concern is how to obtain the correct storage/infiltration capacity. My basement has a french drain around the entire perimeter and I do not believe my gutter system is working efficiently. After a large rain event (relatively constant rains for about 12-16 hours) I observed the sump pumps discharging continuously (several times a minute) approximately 12 hours after the rain had stopped. This seems like a large quantity of water and I am looking to fix my gutters but I would like to size the system to be conservative.

Thanks for reading.


>>>What are spacing requirements for infiltrating discharge in vicinity of wells and septic systems?>>I am considering two options
1) Discharge water through buried pvc pipe to storm drainage channel in street.
2) Install Dry Well / French Drain / Rain Barrels / Rain garden or some system combing any of these elements>> After a large rain event (relatively constant rains for about 12-16 hours) I observed the sump pumps discharging continuously (several times a minute) approximately 12 hours after the rain had stopped. This seems like a large quantity of water and I am looking to fix my gutters but I would like to size the system to be conservative.

 

Thanks everyone for the advice. I am going with option 1 draining everything to the storm drainage channel. I spoke with my local public works department and found out that groundwater is high in my area. One of my neighbors a couple properties down put in a new septic system where the infiltration field is actually a mound elevated a couple feet above grade to give it extra depth to infiltrate. Based on this info, I don't think it is feasible to discharge back into the ground.