Is Your Sump Pump Polluting our Waters?

Many people living in the our coastal community have and need sump pumps and extra drainage to manage flooding in basements and patios. But if these sump pumps and other drainage systems are connected to the home’s sanitary plumbing system through an “illegal hook up,” they could be unleashing waste water from toilets and washing machines into our water ways, according to a report from the Village Committee for the Environment.

When used in connection with home plumbing, the term “illegal hook-up” refers to connecting an outside patio drain or inside sump-pump drain pipe to the home’s main waste water drain pipe going to the sanitary sewer system. Regardless of the relative cleanliness of the water being drained – either coming from sump pumps or patios – the flooding effect can result in the improper drainage of non-sanitary water traveling through the same drainage system.

“Think of it as pouring clean water down the drain. It will mix with other sources of waste water such as sinks, washing machines and toilets,” said Phil Horner, who heads up the CFTE subcommittee on water quality, and author of the report. “If water in the sanitary system becomes overloaded and leaks or overflows out, it causes very polluted water to enter the outside environment. Most homeowners are unaware of how damaging the effects can be.”

And homeowners with illegal hookups could also be subject to significant fines, since environmental regulations prohibit connecting rain water into the sanitary sewers. Storm water must be sent into the separate storm drain sewer catch basins along the curbs of most streets, or onto open ground to be absorbed into the soil.

According to Horner, the vast majority of illegal hook-ups in homes are connected to sump pumps and roof gutter drains.

“When we have heavy rain, ground water rises and sump pumps kick in,” said Horner. “This causes many times the normal load of waste water to flow into the sanitary sewers if the property has illegal connections and hook-ups from the outside or inside. In the same way, when rain water coming off of a roof is routed into the waste pipe, it drains water away from the house but creates a surge into the sanitary sewers.”

But what should you do if you suspect you have an illegal hook-up on your property? The first step, according to Horner, is hire a plumber to inspect the waste pipe connections in the cellar to see if these connections exist.

“These connections are actually quite common – 30 years ago, plumbers routinely made these connections. Today enforcement of the environmental regulations is required only when a home is sold,” he said.

However, given the rising awareness of the issues with pollutants in our waterways along the sound, governing bodies are considering more active enforcement, according to Village officials.

ILLEGAL SEWER HOOK-UPS – WHY IT MATTERS

Mamaroneck Village, like most municipalities in the area, has a separate sewer system for storm water and a separate one for sanitary disposal of building sewage waste water. The storm water goes directly into the local streams and Long Island Sound. The sanitary sewers connect to the Mamaroneck Sewerage Treatment Plant operated by Westchester County. Environmental law dictates that these waters are kept separate.

Westchester County has done flow studies that show Mamaroneck as a chronic offender with sanitary sewer water flows in excess of its target 60% of the time. After periods of very heavy rain fall, of two inches or more, the Village flow to the Sewerage Treatment Plant can reach as much as five to ten times the normal daily sewage flow into the treatment plant. This causes the treatment plant to operate under stress requiring more safeguards while increasing costs. More dangerously, the very high flows cause local sanitary sewers to overflow and pour untreated polluted water with high fecal bacterial counts onto streets and into local rivers which flow to beaches along Long Island Sound.

In April of 2014, severe and heavy rain caused several storm sewer overflows particularly around the Rushmore Avenue pump station in Orienta. The New York State DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) fined the Village and brought action resulting in a Consent Order. The Village agreed to a five year remediation plan. The Board of Trustees approved a resolution in March funding engineering for the remediation project for $205,000, as well as over $600,000 for sewer main relining work to fix leaks in the Village’s system.

A large portion of the authorized funding, $84,000, was earmarked for home inspections for illegal hook-ups in Orienta and in surrounding neighborhoods. Homes found with illegal hookups are required to correct the situation in a short time.

For more information about how to test for, and remedy, illegal water hook-ups, visit www.mamaroneckgreen.org.