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A 50 year old, 3” cast iron sewer pipe has been pouring sewage through two quarter-size holes for at least three weeks, possibly as long as 6 months.

I’m finding a plumber to replace the cast iron with PVC, but I want to clean the space also.

The floor is dirt / rock covered with plastic sheeting. The pool of sewage is hard to estimate because I haven’t crawled around the entire space to inspect, but it’s probably between 10 and 40 gallons.

Can I pump this out with an electric pump? Can it go into directly into my septic tank? Do I need to replace the plastic?

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Can I pump this out with an electric pump?

To clean up puddles you need a suction machine like a shop-vac

Can it go into directly into my septic tank?

that seems reasonable

Do I need to replace the plastic?

It's unlikely to be damaged, only dirty.

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    Agree that the plastic is probably intact, but new plastic versus cleaning every square foot of it by hand is a no-brainer in my opinion.
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    Commented Aug 10, 2023 at 11:54
  • By hand? I think a hose would do enough, but were it a larger mess I would consider contracting a suction and pressure wash truck,
    – Jasen
    Commented Aug 11, 2023 at 13:37
  • I suppose you could hose it down after removing the big stuff, but that skanky water is going to still be around… rolling up and tossing plastic isn’t the cheapest option, but I’d def do it.
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    Commented Aug 11, 2023 at 18:04

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