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I live in South Mississippi and have lived in my home with a slab foundation for about 20 years. I have never had a problem with the foundation and the ground is mostly red clay. We do have a septic system which was replaced about 2 years ago with an aerobic system that drains into the woods about 50 yards away. About a month ago I noticed water standing next to the foundation (slab foundation). I dug around it and it filled up with water. There is a faucet right there that has leaked at the faucet but I can turn it off enough not to leak. I've monitored the water meter and there is no leak coming into the house. I dug a small trench to get the water to run away from the foundation. The water does not smell and looks clean, not cloudy or grayish. The man with the water company in our community said it is probably a spring and will dry up on its own. When they installed the new septic system they hit at least 2 other springs in the yard within about 30 feet of this area. I'm just concerned that maybe the water from the bathroom sink or tub is causing this leak. They are both right where this water is showing up. I even took green food dye and put it in water from the sink, bathtub and toilet but nothing showed up outside. I let the water run yesterday for a while with no change in the water level. But when I looked this morning the water was up. Of course I had been digging in the area so that may be why the water has increased. The water level never gets very high and stays about the same except for this morning.

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    Turn main water supply off at street fir 24 hours . If your hole dries up there is s leak. If it continues full there is another source like the under ground spring
    – Kris
    May 14, 2018 at 19:29
  • I've taken a picture of the water meter, waited 2 hours and checked and no movement. I am wondering is there anyway it could be a leak from the bathroom sink or the bathtub? They are both right near where this appears to be. I don't think it is the toilet because that goes straight into the septic tank. Would the drain pipe from the sink and the bathtub also tie in to the line that goes from the toilet? I guess they would. Of the 2, the sink is closest to the water area. The amount of water I saw this morning could not be just the sink.
    – Jaymie Wakeland Jarman
    May 14, 2018 at 19:40
  • But when you dyed the tub water and sink water you saw nothing it. Is very rare to have toilet and tub/sink draining to separate location. Unless you have a gray water recycling system in place bottom line if water collects there when you have not used any from your municipal system it is coming from elsewhere
    – Kris
    May 14, 2018 at 19:51
  • Yeah. That's what I thought as I was typing. I'm thinking more and more it must be a spring just from process of elimination. It's not the septic tank because there is about 5 feet of dry hard clay between the wet area and the beginning of the septic tank area. Plus there is no smell. The real test will be when we leave for a week next month. Other than someone coming in to feed and water the dogs there will be no activity in the house. But watch, it will rain the entire week, lol.
    – Jaymie Wakeland Jarman
    May 14, 2018 at 20:38
  • Compare the pH of the waters
    – Graham Chiu
    Jul 29, 2018 at 8:23

1 Answer 1

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How does the clean water supplied by your utility company differ from natural spring water? Where I live, tap water contains chlorine and chelating agents, and natural spring water contains none of these. Your water company will be able to tell you how to chemically test for tap water vs. spring water.

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  • The water from the water company comes from springs but they do add chlorine at least to it. I'll ask the water company guy about testing it. Thank you.
    – Jaymie Wakeland Jarman
    May 14, 2018 at 18:47
  • Does your water company add fluoride to the water? This is often the easiest way to distinguish ground water from treated water.
    – Jim Stewart
    May 14, 2018 at 22:17
  • UPDATE The water level is getting higher for some reason. In the past few weeks since I found this it has stayed about the same. But...I did dig a lot around it this weekend trying to make the water run away from the foundation. I think I dug into more spring.
    – Jaymie Wakeland Jarman
    May 16, 2018 at 4:05
  • You might consider sleeping somewhere else for a while.
    – A. I. Breveleri
    May 16, 2018 at 4:48

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