So things are going much better for our basement, the sump pumps, and the water level!!  Monday afternoon a few Clarkston DPW guys came out near our house.  Apparently there's this water pump that nobody on our street knew about.  The pump is next to an empty lot, and pipes run behind our house and over a few more houses.  It was installed by the builder of our home who has since left Michigan.  The pipes and pump keep the water circulating through our drain tiles and out of our sump pumps and out of our basement.  As soon as this pump was fixed/turned on the water level in the sump holes went down substantially, and now they are not even running all of the time!  It's amazing and soo incredibly relieving.  :)

Yesterday Bryan went over to the water department to get copies of all the plumping/plat plans and also to speak with a few different township officials including the supervisor and an engineer.  The next step is to figure out exactly who will be managing the pump system and what an emergency system is for when it breaks/turns off.  I think that it's supposed to automatically dial some number, but that did not exactly work last week.

But it's good news that this pump exists!  Huge news.