[hilltop1]

We have had a problem with water in our basement for about 10 years now. It started the summer of 99. Our home was built in 1979. Summer of 99 was a wet summer and the city had decided to dig up our streets on our hill and replace them. It has always been a mystery why because our streets were fine as far as I could see. They also put in drain tile in the gutters. I have always wondered if they did this because of a problem that maybe started because of time earlier that summer when our water pressure was so high that it made our garden hoses blow up like angle worms with fat spots, and the pipes in our walls would vibrate violently any time you tuned on the water or flushed a toilet. We had several water main breaks on our hill during that summer. They also thought they had a leak in the main that is to the east side of our lot. They looked a little and could not find it and decided to put the street in even though they did not find the source of the water. While the city had the streets out it rained several time pretty hard and because they had left the cement gutter that goes across the street they ended up barricading approximately 4-6 feet of water in the street to the east side of our lot. It was in the middle of this mess with the streets and the excessive rain that all of a sudden our basement started getting wet it started in a few spots and then pretty soon it was wet over the entire basement it was not coming in just 1 or 2 areas but up through the concrete all over. It continued through the summer. When we asked the city water department about it there response was they didn't know what was causing it when I talked to our city planner he insisted the water table had risen and we would just have to put in drain tile and a sump pump. Since we live on top of a hill that drops 30 feet minimum to the east and west within a block I have always had a hard time believing this. We did things like make sure we put extensions on all our rain gutters to get any water away from our foundation. Over the next 6-7 years we have fought a wet basement several times. Last year we finally dug up our foundation and put in drain tile and sump pumps around our home. We also lowered our yard 2 feet and put in a swale drain in the middle of our yard and a retaining wall with drain tile behind that. This spring and summer our sump pumps have always been cycling on and off probably every half hour at the least. During the month of August we received no rain and all of a sudden we had water coming in our basement. I called the city to have them come and check it out and they did not have any ideas except that maybe I was watering excessively! By that afternoon there was a definite flow that you could watch come in. I called the city again and after asking him if there was any way to tell if it was city water or not he said something about pH and I told him that I had checked the pH with test strips for our hot tub and the pH was the same as our tap water and he finally came up with a pH meter and he agreed it was city water but was not sure what to do except to maybe call a guy the next day to see if listening to the water mains would help him figure it out. He called a few hours later and said he could try shutting off our water main to eliminate that as a possibility even though he did not think that was a problem because our stand was dry. I had him shut our main off and immediately the water stopped coming in and water that was 2 inches deep in our SE corner was gone in less than an hour. After fixing the water line coming in our home we had water restoration people in and removed Sheetrock and doors trim and carpet and they set up 15 large fans and 2 large dehumidifiers. They left them run a week and even though there was still maybe 6 inches of water in the hole they had dug in the basement floor when the main was fixed he said that should be gone in the next day or two.We thought some of the water in the hole could be because since they fixed the water main we had several inches of rain but nothing came up around the perimeter of our home and we felt the yard work and sump pumps we had installed the year before had done their job. This was about 2 weeks ago. We still have water in the hole and we checked the pH again and it was 8.57 ground water here is between 6.9- 7.1 and rain water being about the same is what I was told. City water runs between 8.9-9.1 we also checked the water coming out our sump pumps and it is the same pH as the water in the hole 8.5. I am still concerned that our entire problem is still a leaky water main that has plagued us since our water problems began 10 years ago. Our street and gutters are sunken done where the water main connections are our driveway has cracked and sunk about 2-3 inches there also. The city insists unless water starts coming up out of the street they are not going to do any thing about it. I called a company called innovative basement systems that are experts in making basements dry. They want to put in drain tile around the inside of our basement walls which would run us approximately another 5,000 dollars. He said they don't determine where the water comes from they just make basements dry. I would really like to know where my water problem is coming from before spending another 5,000 dollars. Do you have any Ideas that could help me determine if the water is a spring under my house or an ongoing problem with the city mains. Any incite would be greatly appreciated.

[KBC]

Make the city do it's job.It would seem that they are trying to eliminate their responsibilities and say it's your problem, meanwhile it would seem to be THEIR problem.

I am almost 100% sure that city water works are responsible for the water lines from the street to your meter, but a check at your city code enforcement or city planners desk would verify this.

If they are responsible up to your meter,the breaks,all the work you have done up to this point! is on their shoulders..

Water table rising,indeed:(I have heard some good ones in the past... that one just doesn't float for me.You stated you are on the TOP of the hill(hilltop1), how then can the water table raise up,, gravity doesn't go up, water goes to the path of least resistance, down is the way, or sideways and downward.

I would seriously(especially in this economy),seek legal advice for this whole mess.. I think the city made an error when they did their 'street repairs' and like you have stated,they have dodged a bullet by making it seem like it's your problem,not theirs.

[hilltop1]

Hey thanks for responding so quickly, and yes we are about the highest point in town The hell hill for anyone that has rode a bike up this hill. I do know that our city ordnance states that once the water line is on our property it becomes our responsibility. I don't know if the main lines are still not leaking and what caused the extreme water pressure here and what kind of damage did that cause. I am still hoping to find some kind of water expert to help with these answers . First is there water still leaking? If not how long will it take to dry up. I have now from you and this forum realized that because we have clay soil that water is not necessarily going to come up to the surface and that it could very well travel to our basement from the water main, I do remember a week or so before the water came in there was a marked increase in water pressure and that at some point close to when our water came in our 2 closest neighbors with full basements also had some water in there basements as well which makes me think that it was probably not just our service line. Does any one know if the city has to keep track of water pressure or not and can I get access to these records? Thanks again for your help

[KBC]

If a new water tower was installed,there would be records.

If they installed a new booster pump,or replaced a check valve,there would be records.Any repairs/improvements that required tax dollars to be spent requires that they have records of those expenditures.

Time for some investigating?