Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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Samantha Hayes ReportingWe usually talk about the rain as good for the Salt Lake Valley, but a few homeowners in South Jordan might disagree.
Most of us probably did not look at a plat map when we bought a house. This one shows the South Jordan River at 114 South; there's the flood plain and the homes outside that line. Those homes were built a few years ago when we were in a drought and this was not a problem. Now they have water in their basements.
When the storms roll in, the issue for many homeowners may be a leaky roof, but Andy Meisenbacher can't patch this problem. He's been pumping ground water out of his basement for a week.
Andy Meisenbacher: "I wish I had been smarter and built the house four feet higher."
Instead, the house was built on two feet of gravel that traps and holds rising groundwater. Hindsight is also expensive, and Meisenbacher says he was not adequately informed of this problem.
Andy Meisenbacher: "I wish somebody had told us this was a possibility."
Don Bruly, South Jordan City: "When you buy a house, there is a lot of paperwork, but it is up to the homeowner to know what he is buying, and the builder to know what he is selling."
The Building permit for his development warns, "Many areas in South Jordan have ground water problems due to a seasonally high water table. Solution of these problems is the sole responsibility of the permit applicant and property owner."
Andy Meisenbacher: "And we are basically here going, ‘help us,' and they have nothing to say."
Don Bruly, South Jordan City: "They've built a basement and they've put in objects to help draw ground water away, but they did not do enough and now they are experiencing high water table. And this is a problem they are dealing with, so they need to go to their builder."
The city says there are other ways to get around ground water problems, none of them cheap: wells to pump out the water, and for this area in particular a french drain should have been built.
The number one thing others can learn from this is on the title of the home, you should always read carefully as to whether there is a ground water problem.
