Street trap / backwater pit

[Geoff G]

Hi,
After taking on some water in a recent storm I learned about home backwater valves and that they require regular maintenance. Fast forward a few hours of wrestling with a rusted pit cover and I now have access to my street traps and backwater valves. This pit is indoors and I was surprised by having two of everything and how much water was in there. It has been raining a lot recently so I checked my sump pit and this is about where the water table is right now.

Should I be concerned or do something about the standing water in the pit?

-G

 

[John Gayewski]

I wouldn't want water in there if it was mine.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Sylvan]

It is very common for some houses to have two house traps and back water valves (storm and sanitary)

Due to the heavy rains the ground is saturated and the ground water level will rise considerably

The water in the pit should drain n a few days. If you're overly concerned you can remove it and pour bleach into the pit and close the cover

 

[Fitter30]

The way the pit is made and the mortar joints just trying to keep dirt out not the water. Would do something about the lid rusting shut.

 

[Geoff G]

Thanks for the responses. You’re right Sylvan, I was able to verify that one line is only storm water and the other is everything else.
I’m going to clean up and paint the frame and cover then put a thin neoprene gasket around the door. From now on I’ll be opening this every 6mo or so and can monitor the rust.
The water in the pit has gone down a half inch or so over the day, so, it is slowly draining. I’m not excited about water being in there either John, this is in an apartment so people live here. Without rebuilding the whole pit I suppose I could fill in with sand, gravel and put down a few inches of concrete. That would put the concrete above the water table I could just end up with damp concrete though and replacing any of this in the future would be a huge pain… not sure there are many other options though.

-G

 

[Sylvan]

Thanks for the responses. You’re right Sylvan, I was able to verify that one line is only storm water and the other is everything else.
I’m going to clean up and paint the frame and cover then put a thin neoprene gasket around the door. From now on I’ll be opening this every 6mo or so and can monitor the rust.
The water in the pit has gone down a half inch or so over the day, so, it is slowly draining. I’m not excited about water being in there either John, this is in an apartment so people live here. Without rebuilding the whole pit I suppose I could fill in with sand, gravel and put down a few inches of concrete. That would put the concrete above the water table I could just end up with damp concrete though and replacing any of this in the future would be a huge pain… not sure there are many other options though.

-G

If you care to leave a tip please consider either Saint Jude's hospital or the Schreiners as both are very good causes

By the way the installer did a decent installation other then not allowing enough space for the No Hub couplings to be replaced in case you want to remove the back water valves when they start to corrode