Serving Grand Forks
Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Grand Forks, ND
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
Why is there open ground where houses used to be?
Because the properties nearest the river were removed rather than rebuilt, and the ground was kept open as part of the protection. That corridor is floodplain doing what floodplain does, and its openness is a large part of why the city is safer now. Water in it is the arrangement working rather than a problem, which is worth understanding before reporting it.
The levees are permanent now. Does that settle it?
It raised the level the city is protected to, which is a substantial improvement and not the same as immunity. Every such system is built against a stated event. What it means for an owner is that the current mapping reflects the completed works, and the mapping rather than the memory of the flood is what to read for a particular address.
How far ahead can this actually be seen coming?
Further than most places, and the instruments are public. Snow surveys through the winter measure how much water is standing on the ground, and a spring outlook is issued from February onward giving a range of crest heights with probabilities attached. The important word is range: the flood that took this city exceeded the number people had fixed on.
The same questions, in context, on the Grand Forks mold removal page.