Opened up bottom of concrete pool, ground water issue

[Matt Ush]

I am reconstructing a concrete pool with fiberglass walls. The hydrostatic valve at the bottom is completely overdue for replacement and the entire main drain is falling apart. We removed the old equipment and chipped away parts of the old concrete. Ground water is now passing through as it should but how long should it be flowing? It has already been at least 5-6 days and it continuously rises. We threw a sump in there just to divert it in hopes that it dries up. If it doesn't dry up, how do I cement this hole closed?

 

[Bama Rambler]

The bad news is that it may never quit. If the water table in the area is higher than the pool bottom it'll keep flowing for eternity. Hopefully in your case it's just temproary and will stop soon.

What you can do is bore a wellpoint (if there isn't one already) right near the pool and set a sump pump in there to keep the water pumped down until you cen get the pool repaired and refilled.

 

[Sciz Milson]

The same thing happened to my pool as it was being built and the PB had a sump pump running 24/7 during the entire process (thankfully it didn't take that long). The groundwater started on the dig date (Jan 4, 2013) and was percolating up all the way until the pebble application (late February). I wasn't there during the pebble application so I can't tell you how they finally stopped the water flow. The PB was never concerned about it (we talked several times about it) and now the pool is up and running normally. Of course I will have to be careful if the pool ever drains, but it can obviously be done. There is a hydrostatic valve installed.

Maybe someone in the industry here can advise on how the process works.

Best of luck,

Sciz