BASEMENT DRAINS
SUMP PUMPS AND ROOF DRAINS
The District's present sewer system, completed in
1982, continues to carry and treat excess volume entering the
lines either through an individual basement drain or leaky
building service lines. This water does not require treatment and
must be eliminated from the system. An estimated excess of 33+
million gallons is infiltrating into the system from these
sources. Infiltration cost the customers of the District more
than $35,000 annually.
Infiltration from these drains and leaking lines during heavy
rain storms overloads the Augusta Sewerage Treatment Plant's
capacity. In order to accommodate the excess load, combined storm
water and untreated sewer overflow is directly discharged, by
license, into the Kennebec River. Time is fast approaching when
the District will no longer be allowed by State and Federal
authorities to discharge this untreated overflow to the river.
Additionally, this 33 million-gallon capacity would best be
utilized to support new commercial and residential growth which
would be of economic benefit to the community.
In 1987 the District created and charged an additional rate
structure for building drains. This rate was implemented to
provide a fair but additional charge to customers with known
basement drains and was based upon a point rating schedule
determined by the James W Sewall Co. of Old Town, Maine. It was
also hoped that these customers would recognize the cost
ineffectiveness of this charge and voluntarily eliminate their
basement drains and direct infiltrating ground water to a surface
drainage via basement sump pumps but, unfortunately, this did not
occur.
In 1996, the District estimated that as many as l00 property owners continue to allow ground water to infiltrate the sewer system via basement drains and service lines. Therefore, the District initiated bolder steps in controlling the expenses caused by infiltration. The District inspected all properties within its service area throughout 1996. The primary purpose for conducting the inspection was to inspect all sewer and drain lines for illegal connections, conduct dye testing to locate building service line leaks and inspect previously - plugged drains to ascertain their integrity. The district established a new rating structure for basement drains being:
1996 BASEMENT DRAIN RATING SYSTEM Rating #1 Garage drain located above grade of surrounding ground Rating #2 Drains with no evidence of water flow. No water stains on floors or support Basement dry and low humidity. Rating #3 Drain with evidence of a small flow for a short period after a very severe weather event, not annual. Basement dry and low humidity. Rating #4 All other drains. |
The problem was much greater than we had expected.
Our 1996 inspection revealed
that many drains were not detected in our earlier inspection and
some of the drains that were previously plugged by the homeowner
had been reopened.