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"I have a mystery water problem"

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Elsa Dorfman Apr-05-03, 02:46 AM (GMT)

"I have a mystery water problem"

I live in Cambridge, MA 02139. We have had a rough winter. more snow than in 6 years. For the first time in 25 years I have had a flood in my basement. the water is coming in as fast as a good pump can pump it out. I had a sump pump installed yesterday and an interior drain. The sump pump is emptying every 2 minutes. Where and why is the water coming into my house? Why is it coming now, after 25 years. What cd be going on. It is definitely ground water. I had the city check and there is no flouride in this water.
No other house on the street is having this problem. Cd it have been my sprinkler system. Cd it be the way we banked the snow? against the house? The street is narrow. the house is close to sidewalk. Does anyone have any ideas. What shld I do? Many thanks to all. Do I need a hydrologist?

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Table of contents

RE: I have a mystery water problem, Barney P. Popkin, 00:48 AM, Apr-30-03, (1)

RE: I have a mystery water problem, Anthony Bevers, 06:43 PM, Oct-21-03, (2)

RE: I have a mystery water problem, Benjamin Kaman, 12:13 PM, Nov-29-03, (3)
RE: I have a mystery water problem, Nick Wills-Johnson, 03:24 AM, Dec-10-03, (4)
RE: I have a mystery water problem, Bart Germond, 02:20 PM, Dec-10-03, (5)
RE: I have a mystery water problem, M. J. McEachern - MC Environmental, LLC, 03:17 PM, Dec-10-03, (6)

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Barney P. Popkin Apr-30-03, 00:48 AM (GMT)

1. "RE: I have a mystery water problem"

I lived in a brownstone off Tremont Street in Boston, and know the area. You may have a broken utility pipe that is leaking through a crack in your basement. Perhaps due to freezing or tree-root activity.
Barney P. Popkin
Water Resources and Environmental Management Consultant, San Francisco

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Anthony Bevers Oct-21-03, 06:43 PM (GMT)

2. "RE: I have a mystery water problem"

I don't believe that the problem is with a boken main. If it were a water main, the city would have detected flourine or another of the many chemicals that the city uses to make the water clean and healty. I believe that the water from melting snow has been trapped by impermeable soil at or near the point of your basement. You may need more reinforcement in the walls of your basement, and or a constant pump until the problem goes away. I had the same problem in my basement a couple of years ago. I hope this helps.
Anthony Bevers

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Benjamin Kaman Nov-29-03, 12:13 PM (GMT)

3. "RE: I have a mystery water problem"

I don't think that increasing reinforcement can prevent water inflow. It is advisable to have more thick layer of Damp Proof Course (DPC) in all the walls and floors.
Deposion of heavy snow in the winter could have recharged the soil, for which little precipitation in excess may cause water inflow if it is not prevented.
Benjamin Kaman,
Research Associate,
Indian Council of Agricultural Research,
Umiam, Meghalaya, India

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Nick Wills-Johnson Dec-10-03, 03:24 AM (GMT)

4. "RE: I have a mystery water problem"

I had a boss in a pub in Scotland with the same problem once. He had all sorts of specialist look at it, to see how groundwater, melting snow etc could have infiltrated the cellar of the pub. In the end, it turned out to be a burst water main. If there is no flourine in the water, could it be that a stormwater drain passes underneath your house, and has burst? I don't know much about snow (coming from Australia!), but it would seem you would need to have banked a hell of a lot of it against your house to get the effects you are mentioning. If it is groundwater, why aren't your neighbours experiencing the same problem? Are you lower down that they are?

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Bart Germond Dec-10-03, 02:20 PM (GMT)

5. "RE: I have a mystery water problem"

I have dealt with this type of problem before and generally find that snow melt and or rain water is entering through backfill around the basement. One thing to check is the condition of surface concrete and or pavement around the house. The other thing I have found is that people commonly do not have the sump pump discharging a sufficient distance from the basement. A short discharge pipe allows water to simply recycle by traveling back down the fill around the basement which is commonly more permeable than the surrounding soils.
Hope this helps.
Bart Germond, PG
Focus Environmental Services, Inc.

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M. J. McEachern - MC Environmental, LLC Dec-10-03, 03:17 PM (GMT)

6. "RE: I have a mystery water problem"

The problem could be due to rain / snow-melt getting into the fill placed by the builder around the foundation, especially if the natural soil is not very permeable (silt, clay, etc.). If so, sloping the surface soil away from the house and not piling snow there would help. Check the roof drains, and make sure that they discharge as far as possible from the foundation.
Another possibility is that the water table is close to the elevation of the basement floor, and a slight rise in the water table will cause it to enter the basement. Are there streams or ponds nearby? If so,higher than normal runoff could cause surface water to rise and increase local groundwater elevations. Conservation measures have included raising pond and stream levels with fish ladders, higher spillways, etc.; how close are you to anything like this?
This problem is common in neigborhoods where the homes were built during extended drought periods (late 1950s-early 1960s)when the water table was several feet lower. You may have a basement floor which is slightly deeper than your neighbors, hence you get the problem and they don't. Some local information resources would include the Cambridge Dept. of Public Works, the Building Dept., and the U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division (Boston).
Good luck.

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Elsa Dorfman	Apr-05-03, 02:46 AM (GMT)
"I have a mystery water problem"
I live in Cambridge, MA 02139. We have had a rough winter. more snow than in 6 years. For the first time in 25 years I have had a flood in my basement. the water is coming in as fast as a good pump can pump it out. I had a sump pump installed yesterday and an interior drain. The sump pump is emptying every 2 minutes. Where and why is the water coming into my house? Why is it coming now, after 25 years. What cd be going on. It is definitely ground water. I had the city check and there is no flouride in this water. No other house on the street is having this problem. Cd it have been my sprinkler system. Cd it be the way we banked the snow? against the house? The street is narrow. the house is close to sidewalk. Does anyone have any ideas. What shld I do? Many thanks to all. Do I need a hydrologist?
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Barney P. Popkin	Apr-30-03, 00:48 AM (GMT)
1. "RE: I have a mystery water problem"
I lived in a brownstone off Tremont Street in Boston, and know the area. You may have a broken utility pipe that is leaking through a crack in your basement. Perhaps due to freezing or tree-root activity. Barney P. Popkin Water Resources and Environmental Management Consultant, San Francisco
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	Anthony Bevers	Oct-21-03, 06:43 PM (GMT)
	2. "RE: I have a mystery water problem"
	I don't believe that the problem is with a boken main. If it were a water main, the city would have detected flourine or another of the many chemicals that the city uses to make the water clean and healty. I believe that the water from melting snow has been trapped by impermeable soil at or near the point of your basement. You may need more reinforcement in the walls of your basement, and or a constant pump until the problem goes away. I had the same problem in my basement a couple of years ago. I hope this helps. Anthony Bevers
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Benjamin Kaman	Nov-29-03, 12:13 PM (GMT)
3. "RE: I have a mystery water problem"
I don't think that increasing reinforcement can prevent water inflow. It is advisable to have more thick layer of Damp Proof Course (DPC) in all the walls and floors. Deposion of heavy snow in the winter could have recharged the soil, for which little precipitation in excess may cause water inflow if it is not prevented. Benjamin Kaman, Research Associate, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Umiam, Meghalaya, India
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Nick Wills-Johnson	Dec-10-03, 03:24 AM (GMT)
4. "RE: I have a mystery water problem"
I had a boss in a pub in Scotland with the same problem once. He had all sorts of specialist look at it, to see how groundwater, melting snow etc could have infiltrated the cellar of the pub. In the end, it turned out to be a burst water main. If there is no flourine in the water, could it be that a stormwater drain passes underneath your house, and has burst? I don't know much about snow (coming from Australia!), but it would seem you would need to have banked a hell of a lot of it against your house to get the effects you are mentioning. If it is groundwater, why aren't your neighbours experiencing the same problem? Are you lower down that they are?
Remove \| Alert	Edit \| Reply \| Reply With Quote \| Top

Bart Germond	Dec-10-03, 02:20 PM (GMT)
5. "RE: I have a mystery water problem"
I have dealt with this type of problem before and generally find that snow melt and or rain water is entering through backfill around the basement. One thing to check is the condition of surface concrete and or pavement around the house. The other thing I have found is that people commonly do not have the sump pump discharging a sufficient distance from the basement. A short discharge pipe allows water to simply recycle by traveling back down the fill around the basement which is commonly more permeable than the surrounding soils. Hope this helps. Bart Germond, PG Focus Environmental Services, Inc.
Remove \| Alert	Edit \| Reply \| Reply With Quote \| Top

M. J. McEachern - MC Environmental, LLC	Dec-10-03, 03:17 PM (GMT)
6. "RE: I have a mystery water problem"
The problem could be due to rain / snow-melt getting into the fill placed by the builder around the foundation, especially if the natural soil is not very permeable (silt, clay, etc.). If so, sloping the surface soil away from the house and not piling snow there would help. Check the roof drains, and make sure that they discharge as far as possible from the foundation. Another possibility is that the water table is close to the elevation of the basement floor, and a slight rise in the water table will cause it to enter the basement. Are there streams or ponds nearby? If so,higher than normal runoff could cause surface water to rise and increase local groundwater elevations. Conservation measures have included raising pond and stream levels with fish ladders, higher spillways, etc.; how close are you to anything like this? This problem is common in neigborhoods where the homes were built during extended drought periods (late 1950s-early 1960s)when the water table was several feet lower. You may have a basement floor which is slightly deeper than your neighbors, hence you get the problem and they don't. Some local information resources would include the Cambridge Dept. of Public Works, the Building Dept., and the U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division (Boston). Good luck.
Remove \| Alert	Edit \| Reply \| Reply With Quote \| Top