We received a notice that we had violated the water regulation in Santa Monica. Our investigation focused on the housekeeper, the gardener, and the plumber. As it turned out, it was our plumber. After cleaning out the sump pumps in the subterranean garage, he decided that everything looked dirty and washed down our basement floors. This is a “no-no” and he has since been informed about his violation of the water restrictions in Santa Monica.

I agreed with the inspector that we should not have washed down the floors and told him that the plumber had been so advised. However, I explained to him that it was necessary to clean out the sump pumps of accumulated debris and dirt and that you could only get out so much by hand after which it had to be hosed down and that part would be pumped to the curb. He could not decide if that was permissible and had to check with a “higher authority” in the water division.

The next day, I was informed that it was illegal to clean out the sump pump area by rinsing the remaining dirt/debris and then pumping it into the street. He told me that I would have to have a “recovery system” and dispose of the water into the sewer by using one of the toilets or sinks in the building. After further discussion, it was determined that I could open a sewer “clean out” and pump the stuff into the sewer clean out. He was unsure what firm could be of service to perform this task but suggested that a shop vac could be used to “capture” the water in the sump pump area and then move it to the building sewer clean out. I noted that if we didn’t rinse out the sump pump area the rain would do it for us and the remaining dirt and debris would be pumped out to the street anyway, or the pump would clog up and cause us to have a water problem in the building. However, he told me that if the rain cleaned it out, that would be natural water doing the cleaning and not city water. Either way it goes to the ocean.

I learned that the reason I was cited for this violation was that a “volunteer” had photographed the areas involved. This photographic evidence then arrived printed upon the citation of this violation as photographic proof. So property owners BEWARE of cleaning out your sump pumps without disposing of the dirty water into the sewer system. It’s a $250.00 fine for this violation. Who knows where the next “volunteer” will strike!