There is no charge to property owners for inspections completed during this program if the inspections are conducted by the City or the City's engineer (typical). Property owners have the option to hire a private plumber to complete their inspection, in which case the plumber's fees would be at property owner's expense.   The Plumber must fill out the inspection report which is provided on the notices page. If a lateral inspection is required a video of the lateral must be provided, per the inspection report standards. 

Generally a sump pump inspection is checking for clear water connections to the sanitary sewer from the roof drains, seepage collection systems and/or sump pumps.  A lateral inspection includes the use of a sewer camera inserted into the sewer lateral to visually check for a footing drain connection.  All properties connected to the sanitary sewer will at least receive a sump pump inspection.  In other words, a lateral inspection will include a sump inspection. Refer to Program Information for details.

We are implementing best safety practices to confirm to CDC guidelines.  Best safety practices can be found at  Program Information.

A typical sump inspection is completed in 15 minutes and typical lateral inspection is completed 30 minutes.

The inspector will be looking specifically for improper connections to the sanitary sewer, and will not be looking for anything else in your home.

Buildings built before the year 2000 are required to get a lateral inspection. Around the year 2000 building inspections started included footing drain inspections.  Therefore, newer buildings are less likely to have a footing drain and do not need a lateral inspection.  There are also older parts of town which received a lateral inspection during recent road and utility construction projects.  However, all properties connected to City sanitary sewer will at least receive a sump inspection regardless of year built or if there was a recent lateral inspection completed. 

Generally, if your property has a sump pump or seepage collection system, locate it and make sure it is visible to the inspector.  Also, if a lateral inspection is required, locate the main sewer stack and cleanout for the property and make sure it can be accessed by our inspector.  Don't worry, if you need help with any of this our inspectors can help during the inspection. 

Yes, in the interest of fairness to all residents, all selected buildings will be inspected regardless of whether a sump pump or basement is present.

Yes, it is mandatory to complete an inspection. The City's Chapter 53 of the Municipal Code of Ordinances allows the City to verify compliance with plumbing code and verify no clear water connections to the sanitary sewer are present. In any event, it’s the neighborly thing to do to make sure your sump pump or footing drain isn’t going into the sanitary sewer because your clear water may end up in someone’s basement as overflow.

In general, the inspector will be looking to verify that sump pumps, roof drains, footing drains (if lateral inspection is required), and other clear water sources are not connected to the sanitary sewer system, or have the potential to do so.

The City of Kasson is separated into approximately eight equal sectors, designated by color (red, yellow, green, turquoise, blue, pink, purple, and brown),  to stagger inspection times throughout 2020-2021.  Generally, sectors red, yellow, green and turquoise include sump and lateral inspections and will be completed in the Spring and Summer of 2020.   All other sectors, are on schedule to be completed in Fall of 2020 to 2021.  You will be contacted by letter to inform you of your sector color and to invite you to schedule your inspection. The letter will include a unique login user name and password for the scheduling website. You can search for your property on this  map to determine which sector you are in.

Either use this secure website to see all available times or call this number to schedule an appointment.

Yes. You may hire a licensed plumber to conduct the inspection. Inspection forms are available at City Hall. The plumber's fees to conduct the inspection will be at the Owner's expense. The completed form must be signed by a licensed plumber and returned to City Hall.

There is no penalty if your property isn't compliant with either an improper sump pump or footing drain connection during the initial inspection. We will require that the issue be corrected and reinspected.

The cost to correct plumbing will vary depending on the work to be performed. The majority of sump pump or seepage collection repairs, if needed, will be for relatively minor changes that can often be done by the homeowner with materials purchased at a hardware store for under $100. Sometimes there are situations that require more complicated work such as the installation of a new sump pit or repairing a footing drain which could range from approximately $500 to $6000. Every case will be different. We encourage you to seek advice from a licensed plumber or underground contractor if considering any major corrections or footing drain repairs. All work must be done in compliance with the current Universal Plumbing Code (UPC) and City Ordinances.

 

To help offset up-front costs, the City has developed a Petition and Wavier program.  In short, the City will pay the licensed plumber or underground contractor you choose and agree on the costs.  The cost then will be added to your property taxes and payments will be split up evenly over several years.  In short, the City will help finance the repairs. Refer to the Notice section  Petition  and Waiver program details and paperwork. 

The City will not require you to install a sump pump if there are not any potential clear water connections to the sanitary sewer. However, if you have a beaver drain (seepage collection system), roof drain, driveway drain, existing sump pit with no pump, footing drain connected to the service lateral or other clear water connection that is currently draining by gravity into your sanitary sewer, you may need to install a sump pump to redirect the clear water to the exterior of the building to be compliant.

Depends on the repairs needed.  The majority of sump pump repairs are relatively minor such as replacing flexible hose with rigid pipe within the building, or filling in an unused pit, or similar.   Replacing flexible hose with rigid pipe or filling in an unused pit within a typical home can often be done by the homeowner with materials purchased at a hardware store.   Sometimes there are situations that require more complicated work.  If for example, there is a footing drain connection,  a homeowner wishes to install a new sump pit where there wasn't one before, or connect the discharge underground to the storm subdrain, that could involve the work of a licensed plumber and/or underground contractor.  Every case will be different. We encourage you to seek advice from a licensed plumber or underground contractor if considering any major corrections. All work, regardless of who performs the work, must be done in compliance with the current Universal Plumbing Code (UPC) and City Ordinances.

 

To help offset up-front costs, the City has developed a Petition and Wavier program.  In short, the City will pay the licensed plumber or underground contractor you  choose and agree on the costs.  The cost then will be added to your property taxes and payments will be split up evenly over several years.  In short, the City will help finance the repairs. Refer to the  Notice  section   Petition    and Waiver program  details and paperwork. 

A $100 monthly 'clear water' surcharge will be applied to your utility bill until an inspection is completed to verify that no clear water connections are present within your home or building.

Great question! There are two types of sewer systems running down each public street serving the homes and businesses on that block: Sanitary Sewer, and Storm Sewer. The sanitary sewer is intended to take dirty wastewater from our daily lives and convey it to the City's wastewater treatment plant. The wastewater treatment plant sends the wastewater through an extensive series of mechanical, chemical, and biological purification processes before discharging it into the environment. On the other hand, Storm Sewer is intended to take relatively clean rain water and ground water ('clear water') and convey it to the river with minimal treatment. The Sanitary Sewer, and Storm Sewer systems are two separate piping systems that should remain separate. If storm water gets into the sanitary sewer, it causes backups, overflows, and extra cost to the sewer rate payers to upsize the sanitary sewer to convey the excess clear water that didn't need to be in the sanitary system to begin with.

In short, here are the items that should go into the sanitary sewer, and storm sewer systems:

Sanitary: toilets, showers, dishwashers, washing machines, and other 'dirty' water generated from our daily lives. Small volumes of furnace or dehumidifier condensate and water softener backwash are ok going into the sanitary sewer.

Storm: rain water and ground water from sump pumps, beaver drains (seepage collection systems), roof drains, gutters, exterior driveway or sidewalk drains, etc. Pools should be emptied into the storm sewer after being dechlorinated.

Some examples of proper and improper hookups are included in the public meeting presentation linked on the Notices page on this site.

See Storm Sewer vs Sanitary Sewer - Whats the difference? (PDF) for additional information. 

Yes, your basement floor drain is supposed to hook into the sanitary sewer.

In most cases, your neighbor should be able to direct his/her discharge so it does not impact your property or the public right-of-way. City Ordinance requires no discharge to be directed in a way that impacts neighboring properties or any city street, sidewalk or right-of-way.