Serving Kansas City
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Kansas City, KS
Basement seepage, failed sumps, and hydrostatic pressure against the foundation are extracted and dried, and the path from the ground is identified so the loss does not repeat. Groundwater and basement seepage are extracted and dried only after the path from the soil is identified — a wall, a slab, a drain, or a failed sump. Drying the interior without stopping that path returns the same water to the same floor.
Frequently asked questions
Bluff or bottom: does it change the answer?
Entirely. On the bluff the water arrives across the surface or sideways through the slope and the work is interception above a building. In the bottoms it arrives from beneath as the rivers raise the level in the ground, and the work is interior drainage with a pump. A remedy matched to one is simply wrong for the other.
Our street went under and the rest of the city was dry.
Storms here park over a few square miles and repeat there for hours, so one district takes five inches while a neighborhood two miles off records half of one. Any regional total flattens that out completely. If you want to understand a specific property, the reading from a nearby gauge during a specific storm is worth more than every monthly average.
The wall held and the basement went under regardless.
With the gates shut against the river, rainfall landing on the protected side has no gravity route out and has to be lifted over by pump. That makes the pumping plant the actual drainage system rather than a backup, and its capacity rather than the levee's height is what decides whether a cellar stays dry.
This FAQ belongs to the Kansas City page; it is repeated here.