Lebanon Sump Pump Program: Estimated Costs

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Overview

The E-mail/letter listed next was sent to 8 Boone County plumbers, 7 Marion County plumbers, and 2 Hamilton County plumbers. All but four of the Boone County plumbers are now registered with the Lebanon Planning Department.

Hello ,

I am sending you this E-mail because you are (may become) a licensed plumber currently registered with our Lebanon Planning Department.

Sanitary sewer overflow from infiltration and inflow during heavy rain events is the number one hazard to our Lebanon Utilities wastewater system. Sump pumps improperly connected directly to our sewage system are a primary source of overflows during heavy rains.

Improper sump pump connections are prohibited according to the following provisions in our Lebanon Utilities General Terms and Conditions for Wastewater Service:
6.5 Connection of downspouts, drains and the like. No person shall hereafter connect or reconnect roof downspouts, footing drains, areaway drains, driveways, parking lots or other sources of surface run-off or groundwater, to a building (or house) lateral sewer or building (or house) drain which is in turn connected directly or indirectly to the sewage System.
6.7 The Superintendent, Inspector or other duly authorized employees of the Utility, upon reasonable notice to any person who is an owner, tenant or occupant of any real estate, are empowered to enter, upon presentation of proper credentials, all premises for the purposes of inspection, observation, measuring, sampling and testing water, sewage and industrial waste.

At the present time our City is reluctant to use the “stick” of uninvited inspections to identify improper sump pump connections and demand that homeowners correct the improper connections.

Our Lebanon Mayor, Lebanon City Council, and Lebanon Utility Service Board are now actively considering the “carrot” of a program to reimburse the owners of Lebanon single family homes all or part of the cost to correct their improper sump pump connections. To be reimbursed, a homeowner would have to hire a Lebanon Registered Plumber to correct an improper sump pump connection.

There may be as many as 1,000 improperly connected sump pumps in our City. Therefore, realistic estimates of the cost range to correct an improper sump pump connection are important before the reimbursement program can be approved.

One typical correction might be running a pipe from a sump pump, through a foundation wall, and in the ground away from the house. A pop-up valve would empty water from the pipe onto the ground. Of course, as a professional plumber, you know better than anyone how to best correct improper sump pump connections in our City!

PLEASE, A QUESTION.

What do you think is the cost range to correct a typical improper sump pump connection in our City? Your response will be very important as we continue to consider a reimbursement program.

Thanks,

Aaron Smith
Lebanon Utility Service Board Member
Phone:

Responses

NOTE: Plumbers A, D, E, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, and P did not respond.

Plumber B (Boone County) - August 13, 2020, Response
It would cost around $1,000 for the material and labor to relocate a sump pump and run a PVC pipe under the ground away from the house.

Plumber C (Boone County) - August 13, 2020, Response
We are an interior plumbing service company and we do not do any trenching or digging. I do however want to give you my thoughts on the matter. If there are storm drains available on or near the property then that would be the ideal place to run a underground sump discharge line to. It should be over-sized to help keep it from freezing if there is little or no slope available. I would think a 3" or 4" PVC pipe and not the black corrugated pipe some will like to use. The black pipe is commonly infiltrated with roots subsequently clogs the line. It also collapses easily. If there is no storm sewer available, then it becomes a case by case solution. There are some homes that just have nowhere to go with the water in a way that does not cause a new problem with wet soggy ground etc.
I would think a excavating contractor would charge between $1,000 to $2,500 to get from the sump pump to the storm drain on average if it is within 25-75 ft.
P.S. a "POP UP" valve holds water and will freeze causing pump failure.

Plumber F (Marion County) - August 18, 2020, Response
I have attached the following for your review:
A. Budget proposal with scope
B. Pages from the Indiana Plumbing Code that highlights sump pump references
C. Literature on the link seal product for the pipe penetrations through the foundation walls
D. Yard termination fitting
Thank you f or the opportunity to provide the scope and pricing below.
1. Shall call 811 and have utilities marked prior to digging.
2. Provide pipe and  fittings to accomplish the following:
    * Remove existing sump pump discharge from the sanitary sewer piping
    * Route the sump pump discharge through the foundation wall and extend into the yard approximately 10' to a pop up discharge fitting.
    * Core drill the foundation wall and install a sleeve and link seal (water tight seal)
    * Manually /hand excavate the yard and backfill the trench - we shall mount up the dirt over the piping so it can settle.
    * Fill and test sump pump/pipng to ensure the discharge line operates properly
3. We have assumed normal working hours from 7:00am to 3:30pm
4. The pricing below includes 16 hours of labor (at $85 per hour) to provide a budgetary figure.
5. Pricing does not include repairs or replacement of any existing conditions.
6. Pricing includes all labor, materials, and sales tax to complete the scope of work.
Budgetary proposal Price: $ 2,000

Plumber J (Marion County) - August 13, 2020, Response
There are a lot of factors that can go into a standard price for a re-route as all will not be the same. If it were in a basement and we had to core drill through a masonry wall with minimal piping changes and do the excavation on the outside complete with back fill it would be around $ 1,500. If it is a crawl that is easy to access it would be less. There are a lot of variables that can go into this so each one would be job specific.

Plumber Q (Boone County) - August 13, 2020, Response
There could be many variables to this however the range of $300 to $800.

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This page was last updated on 09/01/20.