A couple of months ago our basement got flooded when the sump pump quit working.  We took up the carpet and cut the drywall to clean out the footings.  After getting everything cleaned up the ground water is still getting into the footings in the basement and i shop vac it every night but instantly the water level comes right back.  That level is directly related to the amount of rain we get.  I need to find a way to get the water out of the footings so we are able to waterproof the footings some how.  Any suggestions?

Poor exterior grading along the perimeter of the foundation walls is likely the number one cause of leaky basements. Common sense tells us that we want surface water to flow "away" from a house, not to collect and pool adjacent to the foundation walls. A good "rule of thumb" is a 1-to-1 relationship in slope. In other words, at least 6-8 inches of slope away from the foundation walls, extending for the first 6-8 feet. (items #1 and #2 in diagram) From: http://www.dspinspections.com/basementwater.htm

Also, if you do not have gutters above where the water is leaking in the basement, get them. All that water will flow off your roof down into the ground next to your foundation walls. I suggest grading your yard next to the house as stated above. If the problem persists, you'll have to dig around the problem area on the outside of the wall, seal the foundation wall and footing/wall connection, and run a tile or some other method of diverting the water from the wall.

What you don't want to do is just seal the inside of the basement. By just sealing the inside the water will sit in and around the wall, pushing and eroding it, causing long term damage.

Chad

Giday mate,
You can drill through your'e wall at the bottom of the footing just above the slab level, make the hole about 13mm, right through to the other side, then inject a bentonite cement slurry with a graco air driven pump, use 3/8 blue max hose connected to a tapperd spike, drill some relieve holes along the wall where it is leaking and keep pumping.

mark

You need footer drains installed to keep the water table at a managable level. Don't dig lower than the footer or you'll cause erosion. Look outside at the grade and rain gutters to see if they need attention. You can find some great information and help at http://www.b-dry.com/wet-basement-solutions.html 

The footing is usually a solid concrete block poured around the perimeter of your building with a wall built on top of it and then the basement floor is poured. Water doesn't usually go through the footing but will go through the walls or the seam between the wall and the footing. As you have seen, a sump pump with a drain tile system doesn't work 100% of the time. After getting an enormous amount of water in a corner, we had our house waterproofed from the outside using a hydroclay system, similar to aussie bloke's method but they didn't drill holes in the wall. The company injected clay down to the footing and it filled the voids in the ground and the cracks in the wall. We had this done over two years ago and the basement has been completely dry since. We only needed a corner done so the price was a fraction of doing the whole house with a drain tile system. This also keeps the water outside, a drain tile will still let the water in (along with molds, fungus and smells) before it gets pumped out. I'm sure if you look up hydroclay waterproofer you can find guys in your area doing it.