Sump Pits for Dummies

Sump pit and pump

We've always been amused by the verbal gyrations performed by freelancers trying to avoid being nailed for plagiarism at sites like eHow and WiseGEEK, which punished those they caught in the sin. The more crafty plagiarizers were quite fond of the thesaurus; a handy tool but (in out opinion) no substitute for knowledge. Having "amokked" in the thesaurus is often a dead giveaway that the author of a content farm post had to look the topic up at Wikipedia (or another website) and reword whatever appeared there. Combined with other shortcomings, that's how our staffer picked up on Mary McMahon and her WiseGEEK.com post, "What Is a Sump Pit?" now moved to a new niche called HomeQuestionsAnswered.com (snort!).

McMahon's opening salvo in her definition was all we needed...

"A sump pit is a hole that is designed to collect water and other spilled fluids. One of the most classic locations for one is a basement, where is [sic] can wick water away to ensure that the basement does not flood."

"Wick" it away? is she sure about that? Did she mean to say "whisk"?  Not to mention that the basement is a common location, not a "classic" location.  Mary followed that one up with,

"When the water table in the surrounding area is higher than the basement, water can leach into the basement, causing a variety of problems." 

Here, Mary was trying to plagiarize something that said "water can leak into the basement," but decided that "leach" is a good synonym for leak. It isn't. Mary also wasn't aware that sumps aren't necessary because the "water table... is higher than the basement" (she means basement floor), but that they're necessary to prevent water that percolates beneath the foundation from entering the basement – it isn't always the water table. The best this freelance hack can come up with is,

"If water is allowed to flood a basement, it can cause significant water damage, encourage the growth of mold, and potentially create a health hazard, if allowed to stand..."

...which earned a unanimous "Duh!" from our staff. Here's more dumbassery from McMahon: "Basement sump pits are drilled into the floor and typically lined with brick or concrete" – "Drilled"? Horse puckey. Plus, in the last hundred years or so most sump pits are lined with a plastic or galvanized steel crock, with a layer of gravel at the bottom. "...the sump pump connects either to a storm drain, or to the municipal sewer system..." – Connection to the sewer system is not allowed by code in most locations. Most sump pumps drain to a low spot on the property, sometimes to the gutter. McMahon's missteps and bogus information make it obvious that our Dumbass of the Day had no idea what a sump is before rewording something she read somewhere, and had precious little idea after she'd finished.

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