Perception is a major factor in basement flooding. Irregularly high amounts of rainfall can lead to an increase in lake elevation and ground water table. There is a cycle of water running through your home. It goes form the walls of your basement into the home, then to the sump-pump, into the lake and back into the ground water seeping into your walls of the basement.

Figure 3: Precipitation for Robbinsdale, MN.

(www.ersys.com)

This water cycle is never ending. The objective is to increase the outflow relative to the inflow, which would keep your basement dry but would not keep water out. This cycle is also known as mass conservation; amount of water in equal’s amount of water out. Ground water cannot be contained, just redirected. This cycle is useful to know in prevention of basement flooding, which could then later lead into structure failure.