On 1/5/2011 4:04 PM, hr(bob) wrote:
On Jan 5, 2:09 pm, Hell wrote:
On 1/5/2011 11:56 AM, Edge wrote:

I know its winter. But being retired and with idle thoughts I am
looking at my neighbor's rain barrel that during the summer collects
rain runoff from his roof to water his plants. Our houses in the
development have basements with sump pumps. My own sump pump goes off
more regularly than it rains around here in the summer. Since the sump
collects clean ground water, is it okay to divert that water to a rain
barrel? Seems a better idea than dumping and wasting that water into
the storm sewers.

Where I live it is illegal to drain a sump pump into the sewer system;
it *must* be discharged somewhere on the property. So yes, people do
pump it out onto their lawns or gardens. For that matter, people with
lakeshore property frequently water with water pumped from the lake,
and that's for sure going to have more collected runoff in it than
whatever you collect just from your property.

As long as you have regular sewers for your house, and not a septic
tank, that water should be ok. Where we have septic tanks and wells
in the rural areas around here, the well is usually in the front yard
and the septic system is in the back yard. I guess the assumption is
that the septic system water goes straight down from the drain field
and does not migrate sideways under the house foundation and get into
the well.

There are often, if not mostly, 2 very different types of sewers to
consider. Most any city, town,... prohibits groundwater from a sump
pump to be discharged into a sanitary sewer (that's the one that is
anything BUT sanitary). All the extra water stresses the septic plants
that treat the water and in heavy rains can cause it to release
untreated septic (toilet) water straight into creeks, lakes, rivers...

Then there are the "storm sewers". They just take rainwater downhill to
get it out of the way. Quite often they drain into creeks and lakes, no
problem. Many areas allow sump discharge in the storm sewer.