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Standing water

jeremybrenn
9 years ago

Hi Everyone. This is my first post to GardenWeb so I hope my question is not too novice.

I'm trying to solve a standing water problem in my backyard. At the suggestion of a local excavation professional, I have diverted my sump pump exit to the back corner of my property, which is the low point of my yard. I dug the pit (about 1 foot deep) to collect the water. Our soil in this area is clay type. (See attached image)

I'm not finished yet, as I'm supposed to dig a bit deeper (2 feet deep), line the pit with Typar paper, and fill with large crushed rock. Then cover over with topsoil.

My concern is that there's a considerable amount of water that takes 3-5 days to dissipate after a heavy rain. Am I heading in the right direction with this project? Will digging the pit deeper solve the problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Comments (6)

  • PRO
    Yardvaark
    9 years ago

    What exactly is the problem you are trying to solve? I don't understand why, if water is running as it should to the low point of your yard, that you are trying to intercept it from leaving by digging this pit? why not fill the pit with the same soil that came out of it and let water leave the property?

  • jeremybrenn
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks for responding, Yardvaark. That's a good question. Prior to digging this pit water would pool in this area after it had rained and would stay there for 3-5 days before dissipating into the soil... it would not leave my property. My kids couldn't play in this part of the yard and it was just plain ugly to look at.

    So, the solution that was suggested to me by the excavator was to dig this pit and allow the water a place to release over time below ground level.

    Thoughts?

  • PRO
    Yardvaark
    9 years ago

    Where is the nearest place OUTSIDE of your property where the water would go, if it could get there? What is in the way of it following the course it SHOULD take (likely this is shortest and most direct) in order for it to get there? If the course were made available to the water, what problems would this cause?

    The problem with the french drain idea (that you are in the process of creating) is that when a rainstorm is larger than the one that fills it up, all the drainage problems will persist. Over time, the capacity of the french drain will diminish, making you wish you had solved the problems correctly in the first place. What will it take to fix? We will see as we follow the path that water must take in order to leave your property.

  • jeremybrenn
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Unfortunately, I have a neighbor to the left and right of me and also one who's backyard meets mine so according to my township I'm not allowed to drain the water to another neighbors yard. There's nowhere else for the water to go, hence the pit idea. Any thoughts?

  • PRO
    Yardvaark
    9 years ago

    Jeremy, wherever land slopes -- which is everywhere -- one neighbor is draining storm water onto their next door neighbor's property. The only way to prevent this would be for each owner to create a retention pond on their own property and grade their lot to drain into it. Even then, if the rain storm was large enough, that pond would overflow and that excess water would be forced onto the neighboring properties. When is the last time you saw a neighborhood where every homeowner had his own retention pond? I'm guessing that the answer is "never," as it would be a completely impractical way to use land efficiently. And ... it's not needed!

    Suppose you're in a neighborhood where the land is sloping in a single, uniform direction, from north to south for miles around. Obviously, water is going to travel in a southerly direction within every yard. This means that an owner must be prepared to accept the water that comes across his northern lot line. He cannot raise the elevation and block the flow of this water coming on to his property. He cannot direct it onto his east and west neighbors. By the same token, his neighbor to the south cannot block water, so what entered form the north will run south and leave the property at the southern lot line. This scenario is happening for all homeowners so therefore, no one is stuck with the obligation of retaining all the rain water that falls on his property. During a rain storm, everyone is receiving water and everyone is simultaneously getting rid of water. And some is soaking into the ground making the plants happy. It's a win-win-win situation.

    What you CAN'T DO is concentrate water and dump it onto a neighbor's property (such as in one example described above.) You must allow the natural flow or create a natural-like flow. So instead of the placing water into your own retention pond (like you are trying to do now) you should be trying to find out where it would naturally go, if not stopped by some creation of man (like bad grading ... or a neighbor wrongly increasing the elevation of his yard so water will not properly leave yours.) You must look outside of your own property lines to determine the natural flow of water through the immediately surrounding neighborhood.

    The exception to the general illustration of how water moves through neighborhoods is because we have public streets. Many lots are graded so that rain water falling in a portion of the yard will run toward the street. There, we turn it over to the municipalities who own and control the streets. They create drainage structures in order to divert the water more directly to the end destination so that it no longer needs to enter and cross over private yards. There's a good chance that water running through and beyond your back yard will travel across your neighbor's land and end up at the street in front of his house. Eventually, all the water that hasn't soaked into the ground will end up in a river or lake somewhere.

  • toottee (6b)
    9 years ago

    I'm new here ... but I thought this may help. My sump pump drained right into the middle of my back yard. The wet area made it difficult for the kids to play. I dug up the area close to the drainage and used that soil to build up the back to form a rain garden. I use koi water supplies to help keep the water clear. It is not finished (I have to do the edges) but I thought a visual of what I did could help.