Groundwater & Basement Water Intrusion in Connellsville, PA

That points at mine drainage rather than ordinary groundwater. Water moving through old workings picks up iron and can be acidic, and it stains everything it touches while corroding metal it sits against. It also tends to be persistent rather than seasonal, because the workings hold and release water on their own schedule. It is worth identifying specifically, since the handling, the materials that survive it, and who may be responsible all differ from a normal groundwater problem.

In mining country that is common. Underground workings and the fractured ground around them carry water along routes that have nothing to do with the surface slope, so a discharge can emerge well away from where the rain fell. Surface grading often makes little difference as a result. Interception at the wall, with a drain and a sump sized for continuous operation, is usually the practical answer.

Usually worth repairing, provided the water is dealt with first. Stone and early poured walls of this era are often structurally sound and simply wet, and they have carried these houses for eighty years. What destroys them is repeated saturation and freezing, so drainage that keeps the soil behind them from staying saturated does more for their longevity than any repointing done on its own.