Old driveway well draining into sewer

[GeorgeP]

I am looking at buying a house in Arlington Ma and the owner tells me that the dry well in the driveway drains into the sewer. He says that it was installed in the 60's and was legal then and "grandfathered". Could this be so? I'd love some help with this one.

[Gene Bickford]

It's "Grandfathered" to drain into city sewer? I doubt it. It could very well be true but I doubt it.
At an average cost of $1.75 to treat 1000gal of sewer water most cities are taking i and i (inflow and infiltration of ground/storm water into sewer) pretty serious.
Even if it is "Grandfathered" I'm sure thats subject to change.

You may want to check with local code enforcement and sewer department. You may be opening up a can of worms if you bring this to their attention though.

[toolaholic]

Funny George,I grew up in Arlington,But You'll have to ask at public works there.

I live now outside of s.f. now ,but work on homes there.Driveway catch basins always ,as well as roof drains, dump into into the city sewer ,via the laterals. Dump down leaders on ground ,go to jail,if not corrected! Everyone must open there minds that different areas of the country have different local codes. I never new this when I lived in Arlington! good luck

[GeorgeP]

Thanks Gene and Toolaholic. I'm a layman what is a "lateral vs. a leader"?

[toolaholic]

Back East a lateral is called a side sewer . This is Your house 4" drain from 2 ft.outside your foundation to street. Down leaders are the down spouts ,catching roof gutter water. This dumps on the lawn many places,not S.F.. Here it goes to the treatment plant!

[Devine Plumbing]

I have had more people than I can think of ask me to reroute thier sump pump lines into the main sewer line. Usually this is because the drain line from the water softener is ran into the sump pump as well, which usually ends up dumping right on the ground about 6" outside of the house, killing everything in its path as it runs off. I guess my question is, how many of you would consider something like running a softener or ground water into the city sewer drain? Or would you insist that this line be rerouted to a drywell, ditch, or other runoff point, only to let some hack come in behind you to do what the homeowner is requesting?