1) When I say that the sump pit was "full of shitty water", I mean the most putrid foul nasty 8+ years worth of the most latrine style diseased water known to man. Coming into contact with that stuff in any way shape or form is instant sickness. The reason that the sump pump needed to be replaced was because of a permanent problem where the pipe outside would need to be replaced with a temporary pvc solution to jettison the water away because it had at one time burned out a sump pump desperately trying to pump water against a block of ice. Now, we finally have a permanent solution to that disaster.
2) I have first hand experience with that kind of sickness. I help my best friend jackhammer his ex-wife's basement floor to fix a permanent problem over there with their sewage and flooding issues in the basement. We had to try to connect to a crumbling 1940's era cast iron pipe under the cement and were oh so lucky to do so. However, that came with the fact that we were not aware of just how bad playing with that kind of cast iron pipe and its contents were. I was pretty careful to clean my hands and such, but I was lied up with the worst stomach bug of my life for 3 days after that job was completed, so I know what was at stake.