A regular plumber can take care of the sump pump. I’d start by calling the I&I program and have them come out and tell you what’s going on and what’s required, and if they can help with the cost. If you need a plumber, I’d recommend American Drain and Sewer.

When I did ours, the City inspector had me install a gate valve and a backflow valve in the main sewer line to stop any possible backups from the city sewer to our floor drain or the shower I was installing. Don’t know if they would make you do that or not.

The information at the link that krlars2 provided and what I can see here in my house together suggest that I have active footing drains. The water continues to trickle into the pit from the clay pipes, but the water level in the pit has not changed in the past 18 hours (and I’m knocking-on-wood that it won’t rise any further). I suppose this means that it is draining from the pit into the sanitary sewer. If this is the case, how is it that my house passed its I&I inspection when I was purchasing it?

Also… If my footing drains are active and still connected to the sanitary sewer, is there anyway I can manually plug the connection to protect my basement from sewage back-up, but also be able to open up the connection when the pit gets water in it from the footing drain? And now that I’m thinking of it, even if I plugged-up or disconnected the footing drain from the sanitary sewer, wouldn’t a sewage back-up still cause problems in my basement via a shower that I have down there?

Finally… Is this situation something that a general plumber handles, or do I need to contact a sump pit specialist?

Thanks!

Based on what you are describing, I am guessing you are still dealing with an active connection from your footings to the sanitary sewer. But without actually looking, it is hard to say.

We had a similar situation going at our first house and were not in one of the I&I target neighborhoods. All was fine until the sewer line got plugged and the it backed up into the basement. Same thing just happened to my neighbor. And it Is a story I’ve heard many times in Duluth.

Based on that not-so-uncommon experience, if you think your manhole is still connected to the sanitary sewer, I would consider getting the system disconnected and installing a sump pump. I’m not sure if the I&I program still is funding projects. But it would be worth a call to the city.

It’s possible that your rainwater is being sent to a “daylight” drain instead of the sewer system, but that seems unlikely if the pipes are that old. Can you tell if it connects to your main sewer line? We’ve never had water in our pit, but the tile pipes were so full of mud, nothing could have flowed to the center of the house anyway.

It seems like the area of town you’re in might have something to do with the amount of work that needs to be done to address I&I. There have been city financing programs if major work needs to be done.