Gerard and Penelope Garcia stand on their front lawn in February 2019. They posted a sign that asks for help to stop water coming into their home.
Every 50 seconds, for nearly a year, about 2.5 gallons of water has flowed into Gerard and Penelope Garcia’s Summit home.
You read that right: about 2.5 gallons of water every 50 seconds. Rain or shine.
The Garcias have become water detectives, but their sleuthing hasn’t solved the problem.
Neither have attempts from the couple’s water company, New Jersey American Water (NJAW), nor have efforts from elected officials, inspectors and engineers from Summit, Gerard Garcia said.
The water just keeps flowing into their basement, spewing from a source no one can find.
“It’s costing us our home. Right now our home is worth nothing,” Penelope Garcia said. “There’s no way we can sell it. We can’t even leave it for long periods of time because we don’t know what will happen to the basement.”
The first water invasion
The Garcias purchased their home in 2012, and the first sign of trouble came in April 2014.
During a powerful rainstorm, the couple’s sump pump – which they never needed before – failed. The basement flooded with several inches of water, Gerard Garcia said.
The couple assumed the water came from the heavy rains, so they fixed the sump pump.
But that didn’t correct the water problem. Instead, days after the rain stopped, the sump pump kept pumping water. Instead of the basement, the water now flooded into Garcia’s and a neighbor’s yard.
Garcia contacted NJAW, the water company.
NJAW didn’t find a line break at the Garcia home, but it did find one at a nearby condo development.
Garcia said he learned from NJAW that the home flooded in 2008 after a similar line break at the condos.
Over the next several weeks, Garcia said and records show, fixes were made to multiple pipes at the development, but that didn’t stop the water flow into Garcia’s basement.
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