Yes, it cannot go directly into the sewer, and that is something that usually comes up during billing season, or during a buy/ sell experience. In our city, we’ve had higher bills than go through the meter, so our Public Works is inspecting basements for cheaters.

So they basically just need to meter your water usage going into the sewer, which is completely logical. It actually shouldn’t cost that much, pvc is fairly cheap, your husband may be able to do it himself (depends on the inspector.)

The most work or muscle will be punching a hole through the foundation to the outside and maybe digging the dry well outside and filling it with gravel, for the water to drop into.

If you do the work remember to cap the pipe that went into the sewer.

@KNOWITALL That doesn’t sound nearly as bad as I thought. The way you’ve described it, I can understand now. I wonder if my husband and his father could just do it. The inspector mentioned that we could just get some PVC pipe and some other part (I can’t remember now what it was) and that it shouldn’t cost much. But he also mentioned a plumber. So I couldn’t tell whether he was requiring a licensed plumber or if this was something we could get away with doing ourselves.

@ItalianPrincess1217 Maybe just call and ask the inspector exactly what needs to be done and if it requires the plumber. If he’s a good guy, he’ll tell you exactly how to do it so it passes.

@KNOWITALL The plumber was just here and said as long as we can get away with no bubbler, it’ll be a $300 job. He is going to send the plans through to the inspector and make sure it will be approved first.

@ItalianPrincess1217 Good to hear.

Update: What a rollercoaster! It turns out there actually is a line going out to the front yard both the inspector and the plumber failed to see. It was right there in the front garden. Problem solved, right? Just saved $300 that we don’t have to spare in the first place! Wrong! Now the inspector says we need to still cut the other pipe that is still connected to the sewer line and cap it off. Okay fine. We can do that ourselves. He never mentioned a permit. But the plumber contacted us and said, “By the way, the inspector told me you’d need a permit for cutting and capping that line.” Keep in mind I never hired this plumber or paid him yet. I only wanted an estimate for the one job of re-routing a line. He took it upon himself to keep on top of this and try to get money out of this one way or another. So I said, “Okay, how much will it cost us to have you come out and cut and cap it?” Guess how much? $300. Go figure. So we save nothing. I’m pissed. Especially because on the phone the building inspector repeatedly said just cut and cap it and we’ll come re-inspect it. He didn’t mention hiring a plumber or getting a permit. He seemed rather casual about it. What should I do? Am I really supposed to shell out $300 to this plumber for such an easy job? What happens if we do it ourselves and the inspector comes and says, where’s the permit for your work? Big trouble? If I had endless amounts of money, I might not question this so much but it seems like this plumber is really trying to get money out of us at this point.

@ItalianPrincess1217
Check to see if you home insurance will pay for it and get all the information from your Town/City re: permits if required and perhaps they can recommend a cheaper expert to fix your problem?
Hope that your home insurance will cover most or all of it..ask your insurance agent for recommendations too ( usually have to have three quotes to present to Insurance company).

Call up inspector himself and ask him if you really need a permit for this stupid job. Might be just that the plumber is trying to gouge you.

And if you have to hire a plumber, tell the first plumber that you’re not gonna have anything to do with him because he’s dishonest!