What are These Holes in My Basement Floor?
 

First post so I hope I've got the right forum for this. I moved into an Alberta home built in 2003 earlier this year. The basement was framed and wired by the previous owner with one room completely finished.

Now I am starting to plan how to finish the rest of the basement and there are a few of these holes in the basement floor. There are two in the furnace room (plus a separate drain) and two near there where the rough in for the bathroom is.

I dug down about 6-8 inches in the hole pictured and hit some water. There is no odour and no pipes either that I could see. Does anyone know what these holes are for?

Thanks!

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/4688/photooeo.jpg

It's hard to tell how large that hole is by the picture....but it looks like a sump pit to me.

Sometimes you will see these without pumps in them, because the pumps were not deemed necessary. Sometimes the well will adequately relieve the hydrostatic pressure itself.

That hole only looks to be about 8" around, and it doesn't sound like it has a bottom to it, so I highly doubt it was intended to be a sump basin. One can only guess what it's purpose may have been when installed, but I'd likely have no problem tearing them out & patching the floor.........