Regulation would require property owners to have sewer connections inspected if they sell.
View full sizeJohn Williams, of the Onondaga County Department of Water Environment Protection, uses a "See Snake" optical device to check the integrity of a main clean-out drain at a home under construction in a development in North Syracuse. Syracuse, NY -- Most people pay little attention to their sump pump — unless it stops working. With any luck, it chugs along in a dark corner of the basement, pumping groundwater away before it can seep into the house.
But where does that water go?
Concerned that millions of gallons end up in county sanitary sewers, where they choke the system, Onondaga County officials are working on a new law that would force homeowners to prove that their sump pumps, footer drains or downspouts are not connected to a sewer.
If it passes, the law would require property owners to have their sewer connections inspected if they sell their houses or commercial buildings. Any illegal hookups would have to be repaired before the sale could close. Owners who don’t sell would have 10 years to have their buildings inspected.
The inspections, which can be performed by home inspectors, plumbers or other professionals, are expected to cost $60 to $100, county officials say.
The law should reduce what the county spends to pump and treat sewage, said Jean Smiley, who is retiring this month as deputy county executive for physical services. It also should cut down on storm-induced sewage overflows that violate clean water rules, pollute local waters and lead to regulatory fines, she said.
But for many of the roughly 80,000 homeowners in the county sewer district whose houses were built before 1979, the law may come as a shock. Back then, it was legal to connect sump pumps and footer drains to the sewer, and many older houses still have such connections. Repairs to fix an illegal sewer hookup could cost anywhere from $100 to several thousand dollars, depending on the problem, county officials estimate.
“It’s going to be surprising to some of the homeowners if they aren’t aware that their sump pump is tied into the sewer system,” said home builder Don Kasper, vice president of Home Builders and Remodelers of Central New York. “It’s a positive law, but it’s not going to be easy to implement.”
View full sizeDiagram: Improper vs. proper sump pump drainage hookupLegislators and administration officials have been working on the law for more than a year. The Legislature is expected to vote on it in September, following a comment session Aug. 5. “This is probably one of the most far-reaching local laws that I’ve ever been involved with,” said Legislator James Corbett, R-Geddes, who chairs the Environmental Protection Committee.
Although violations of the law could carry penalties of up to $1,000 per day, county officials say they do not intend to police illegal sewer hookups with a heavy hand. The legislation allows the county to grant temporary waivers if compliance would create “undue financial hardship.” And if the Legislature approves funding, there will likely be money to help homeowners in targeted areas make the needed repairs.
Besides calling for building inspections, the proposed law requires towns within the sanitary sewer system to submit all developers’ plans to the county commissioner of the Department of Water Environment Protection. The commissioner would have the authority to block building developments if the sewer system in that area couldn’t handle more volume.
But Smiley said the county’s intention is to promote development, not block it. By reducing illegal sump pump connections and promoting conservation measures such as low-flow plumbing fixtures, the county hopes to free up sewer capacity to accommodate growth. County officials do not foresee imposing any building bans because of sewer constraints, she said.
State environmental officials have urged the county to reduce storm water in the sewer system to cut down overflows that spill into waterways during storms or snow melts, Smiley said.
At the extremes, the volume of liquid flowing through the county’s regional sewage treatment plant on Hiawatha Boulevard can quadruple — from an average of 60 million gallons per day to more than 230 million, said Patricia Pastella, commissioner of the Department of Water Environment Protection. Peak flows like that can send millions of gallons of untreated sewage spilling into creeks or Onondaga Lake. In some areas, the stuff backs up into basements, too.
View full sizeMap: Area where sump pump drainage hookup law would take affectThe county is already spending $560 million to comply with a federal court order to fix overflow problems in the older combined sewer system in Syracuse, which mixes storm water and sewage. Before undertaking big projects to prevent similar overflows in suburban areas — where storm water and sewage are designed to remain separate — the simplest course is to prevent storm water from entering sewers, Smiley said.
Although it’s no longer legal, homeowners in some areas commonly connect their sump pumps to sewer pipes because it’s an easy way to get rid of the water, said master plumber David Kondra, co-owner of Potter Heating & Air Conditioning and Perrone Plumbing. “Many, many of those sump pumps are tied into the sewer,” Kondra said.
Even in new construction, builders sometimes create problems, said John Williams, a county plumbing control supervisor. Before a house’s foundation is built, some contractors will drill holes in the sewer pipe below to drain water from the site, he said. Then they cover the pipe with gravel and a foundation, leaving it forever open to groundwater infiltration.
Under the new law, inspectors will use video cameras to check the sewer for that sort of perforation, he said.
County officials said they hope to work with homeowners in areas where disconnecting sump pumps from the sewer creates drainage difficulties. “Nobody wants to push the water out onto their front yard and see the water ponding in their front yard,” said Nicholas Capozza, sewer maintenance engineer.
Many city residents will be exempt from the law’s requirements, because most city neighborhoods have combined sewers that carry rain water and sewage. Households in the combined sewer area will only be covered by the law if their sanitary and storm sewers have been separated, or if the county develops enough natural “green” retention areas to absorb household discharge.
County officials say they don’t have a financial estimate of what it costs to treat the millions of gallons of “clean” water that reach the sewer system from illegal hookups. But they said reducing the flow from groundwater should save on electricity for pumping and chemicals for treatment.
It would also enable the county to better oversee suburban development that impacts the sewer system, said Legislator Corbett. “Is it going to make a lot of people happy? No,” Corbett said. “Is it going to make things better in the long run? I would say, yes.”
Contact Tim Knauss at tknauss@syracuse.com or 470-3023.