Allendale Is Smoke-Testing Its Sewers. Where Does Your Sump Pump Drain?

New Jersey's seller disclosure form asks every Allendale seller whether the house has a sump pump. It also asks whether that pump has given any trouble. It never asks where the water goes once the pump pushes it out of the basement. In 2026 that missing question started to matter. The Borough is now looking for groundwater in its sanitary sewer, and it pays for every gallon it finds.

Sellers and buyers usually treat the sump pump as a mechanical item that either works or doesn't. In Allendale this year, the pipe leaving the pump has become a municipal issue as well. That shift starts with how the Borough is billed.

What the State Form Asks, and What It Leaves Out

The official Sellers Property Condition Disclosure Statement from the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs covers basements in a short run of questions:

8. Does the property have one or more sump pumps? 8a. Are there any problems with the operation of any sump pump?
9. Are you aware of any water leakage, accumulation or dampness within the basement or crawl spaces or any other areas within any of the structures on the property?

Later the form asks "What is the type of sewage system?" and offers Public Sewer, Private Sewer and Septic System as answers. So a seller can answer every question truthfully, saying yes to a sump pump, no to any problems and Public Sewer for the system, and the buyer still won't know whether the sump pit is piped into the sanitary line. That's the gap. Allendale now has a budget reason to close it.

Allendale Pays by the Gallon

Sewage from Allendale goes to the Northwest Bergen County Utilities Authority, which carries flow from its member towns to its treatment plant in Waldwick. After treatment, the plant discharges into Ho-Ho-Kus Brook. Each member town pays a share of the authority's costs. The NBCUA's January 14, 2026 service-charge resolution sets that share with what it calls the "60-20-20 Formula": 60% based on adjusted metered flow, 20% on water connections and 20% on water usage.

Most of the bill depends on how much water reaches the meter, whatever its source. Rainwater leaking into a cracked main counts toward the charge. So does groundwater pumped out of a basement into a sanitary drain. In both cases, the town pays to treat water that was never sewage.

The 2026 charges show what is at stake for Allendale compared with the other member towns:

Allendale's own 2026 budget newsletter carries a slightly different line, $2,206,196 for the "Northwest Bergen Sewer Authority." That's up from $2,009,269 the year before, an increase of about 9.8%, and works out to roughly 11.9% of the Borough's $18,542,005 in total general appropriations. The same newsletter states the Borough's response in one sentence. Sewer costs "have increased in recent years," and to address that, "the Borough will conduct a smoke testing program in 2026 to identify leaks, illegal connections, or other issues that could potentially be contributing to higher costs."

From Budget Line to Basement

At the Mayor and Council meeting on August 13, 2026, Mayor Wilczynski laid out a three-part sewer initiative covering smoke testing, a sump pump program and continued consultation with the Borough Engineer. According to the approved minutes, she said "some sump pumps are improperly connected to the sanitary sewer system, resulting in additional flow for which the Borough incurs costs."

Much of the groundwork is already in place. The Borough's March 12, 2026 agenda listed an agreement with Flow Assessment Services, LLC for sewer smoke-testing services. On October 21, 2026, the Borough awarded an East Allendale Avenue sewer rehabilitation contract to National Water Main Cleaning Company for $556,645. The bid schedule covers 3,845 linear feet of 8-inch sewer cleaning and cured-in-place lining, plus manhole rehabilitation. Lining fixes leaks on the public side. The sump pump program aims at the private side, inside individual houses.

Smoke testing alone may not find every sump pump tie-in. In a 2022 TAPinto report, a Hasbrouck Heights engineer explained that smoke can reveal direct connections but that water standing in a trap or a sump pit may block it. That limit helps explain why Allendale announced a separate sump pump program alongside the testing.

As of late October, the Borough's September and October 2026 newsletters don't give smoke-testing dates, target streets or resident notices. They also don't lay out the terms of the sump pump program, such as an inspection process, deadlines, fees, or any link to a property sale.

What the Borough Code Already Says

The rule behind the program has been on the books all along. Allendale's sewer code bars stormwater, surface water, groundwater, roof runoff and subsurface drainage from going into a sanitary sewer. A separate section separates two kinds of basement pumps. Where a building drain sits too low to flow by gravity, a pump may lift sanitary sewage up to the sewer. Roof downspouts, foundation drains, areaway drains and other sources of runoff or groundwater may not connect to a building sewer that reaches the public sanitary sewer.

That difference matters inside the house. A lower-level bathroom with an ejector pit sends sewage where sewage belongs. A groundwater sump draws water from around the foundation, and under the code that water belongs anywhere except the sanitary line. To a buyer walking the basement, the two setups can look much alike.

How Two Neighbors Have Handled It

Allendale isn't the first NBCUA town to run into this, and its neighbors show the two places the issue can come up.

• Waldwick puts it in the resale inspection. The borough's certificate of compliance application lists items to fix before the inspection date. Item 2 reads "Sump pump connections are to be removed from sewer piping." In Waldwick, the discharge pipe is checked before a sale can close.
• Wyckoff used a surcharge. In 2011, as Patch reported at the time, the Wyckoff Township Committee approved an ordinance authorizing inspections for sump pumps illegally discharging into the Wyckoff or Waldwick sewers. It set a $50 monthly utility surcharge for properties with illegal pumps or where inspectors were refused entry, with an amnesty period through the end of that year. The account is fifteen years old and describes Wyckoff's approach when it passed. It shouldn't be read as Wyckoff's current terms.

Allendale has said it has a sump pump program. It hasn't said which of these models, if either, the program will follow.

What This Changes at the Contract Stage

For an Allendale seller this fall, the practical question is simple. Does the sump discharge outside, or into a drain that ties into the sanitary sewer? A seller who knows the answer before listing has time to look into it on their own schedule, rather than finding out in the middle of a contract or after a Borough notice.

For a buyer, the disclosure form will confirm that a sump pump exists. It won't say where the discharge pipe goes. Asking that question during the inspection period, and having the inspector follow the line, gets at the very thing the Borough is now looking for. The code's ban on groundwater in the sanitary sewer applies whether or not a Borough program has reached that street yet.

Allendale's sewer system also serves a neighbor. Saddle River has no sewer infrastructure of its own, and Allendale accepts flow from several Saddle River developments. At the August 13 meeting, the Borough Attorney described agreements with Avalon and with Toll Brothers, the latter covering the Rosie O'Donnell and Algonquin sites. Together they bring Allendale about $1.1 million, including $585,000 attributed to off-site impacts from the Toll Brothers projects. Under those agreements, future sewer system expenses and repairs are split between Allendale and Saddle River according to each town's share of the flow. With repair costs split by flow, Allendale has another reason to measure its own share accurately, and that share includes groundwater from Allendale basements.

A Few Direct Answers

Is it against the rules for a sump pump to drain into the sewer in Allendale?

Allendale's code bars groundwater, roof runoff and subsurface drainage from the sanitary sewer, and that text is on ecode360. Its section on building sewers and connections bars foundation drains and similar sources from connecting to a building sewer that reaches the public line, and it treats a pump that lifts actual sewage from a low drain differently.

Has Allendale started smoke testing?

The Borough budgeted for a 2026 smoke-testing program and listed an agreement with Flow Assessment Services, LLC in March 2026. Its September and October 2026 newsletters don't give testing dates or streets.

Does Allendale require a sump pump inspection before a sale?

The Borough's published inspections information doesn't describe a requirement tying sump pump compliance to a sale or a certificate of occupancy. Waldwick, next door, includes sump pump disconnection in its resale certificate of compliance checklist.

Will the state disclosure form tell me where a sump pump drains?

No. The form asks whether a sump pump exists and whether it has operating problems, and it asks for the type of sewage system. It doesn't ask where the pump discharges.

This post is general information, not legal or plumbing advice. Before acting, confirm your property's situation and the current Borough requirements with the Borough of Allendale, a licensed plumber or your attorney.

If you're planning to list in Allendale, a sump discharge question is best answered before the inspection rather than during it. Catherine Bossolina can go over your basement, your disclosure answers and your timeline with you in a private consultation, so you go into the sale knowing what the Borough is looking for. Request a Private Consultation.