Drainage and culverts and ditches, oh my!

My house has a drainage issue. It doesn't.

We get two rivers at our house when it rains, and they both pool in the backyard. There is a big ditch behind the house in the wooded area, and this pool is 10-20 feet uphill of it.

We called the country bureau of drainage (or whatever) and the guy came out and told us he wanted to dig two ditches. Stop.

I'm not a big fan of ditches. So I called the guy and told him I'd rather bury pipes or something to connect to the two pipes which run under the road where these two rivers start, he says sure, they're probably 15-18 inches diameter and we can make the ditch big enough for that.

Turns out that's like 4 grand in plastic corrugated pipe.

So, what would GRM do? I want the ditch, and I want the water in it. Typically they just make valleys that you can mow and you deal with it, but that's ugly. Not 4 grand ugly, but ugly.

Here are some pics of the house, and the red lines showing the proposed ditches.

sounds like what you need is a drain from the "pool" in the back yard to the ditch that is somewhere further back in the woods, I presume? Either a subtle ditch that slopes away from the house, or a buried pipe of some sort.

I probably would not mess with trying to tie something into the road culverts. There is usually a lot more to them than just simply carrying water that is visible in the immediate vicinity, sometimes the runoff areas can be huge.

Do you live in a somewhat rural setting? If there are fields around, ask the farmers who does their ditching. They'll bring in a ditcher and run buried corrugated tile. It'll be better and less infuriating than open ditches. Plus, a good ditching company can tell you if it will even make a difference(sometimes it doesn't)

The front yard rivers are undesirable as well. In the front yard there are several un-natural-springs that burst forth, an area where I have to remove a few wheelbarrows full of dirt every few months, and another which turns into a water bubble that's about a foot high under the grass (which is actually pretty cool).

what about a French drain style ditch with rocks?

yamaha wrote: Do you live in a somewhat rural setting? If there are fields around, ask the farmers who does their ditching. They'll bring in a ditcher and run buried corrugated tile. It'll be better and less infuriating than open ditches. Plus, a good ditching company can tell you if it will even make a difference(sometimes it doesn't)

Not rural enough for that.

That corrugated tubing is super expensive. Why do they call it tile, anyway?

mad_machine wrote: what about a French drain style ditch with rocks?

Same expensive pipe, same ditch, more expensive rocks.

tuna55 wrote:

yamaha wrote: Do you live in a somewhat rural setting? If there are fields around, ask the farmers who does their ditching. They'll bring in a ditcher and run buried corrugated tile. It'll be better and less infuriating than open ditches. Plus, a good ditching company can tell you if it will even make a difference(sometimes it doesn't)

Not rural enough for that. That corrugated tubing is super expensive. Why do they call it tile, anyway?

Because it replaced the hand laid clay and then concrete tile. Are you looking at solid corrugated or vented corrugated? With the "spring coming out in your front yard" description, it sounds almost like there is a culvert or tile running under the roadway that is leaking/blocked/broken in your front yard somewhere......if its a collapsed section, you end up with a sinkhole.....if it is a blocked tile, it bubbles out of the ground like you describe.

In reply to yamaha:

There are two drainage pipes under the road where the two rivers start

If the water is coming from the municipal roadway they cannot use a trespass on your property to fix it. At least they cannot do that here. And that is because if there a heavy rainfall event the city could be shown that they were responsible for channeling water onto a private property that caused a flood and property damage, and they open themselves up to a lawsuit. I have seen exactly that situation. The correct solution is to swale the road allowance and channel the water to another piece of city owned property.

If they will not do that then you could berm your property line and make it someone else's problem.A very low asphalt berm keeps it from running down the driveway

Actually, after rereading your posts, the correct solution is to dig up the road and fix the leak.

In reply to bearmtnmartin:

I am fairly certain these pipes are facing my property, there are two which cross the road and end at my property line, roughly.

It would be odd that there isnt a recorded drainage easement for something like that.

tuna55 wrote: In reply to bearmtnmartin: I am fairly certain these pipes are facing my property, there are two which cross the road and end at my property line, roughly.

OK, so the two municipal culverts empty onto your property? Then they need to get THEIR water off YOUR property.But not by trespassing.

Tuna55 said: 15-18 inches diameter

The guy who quoted you $4k for just pipe does know that a 6" corrugated plastic tile in your yard and 2-3 "risers" to drain into per side from just your yard will do the trick here doesn't he?

I misread that originally as 5-8" diameter.

Also, I doubt you can accomplish much with the local govt, but it never hurts to try.

ok, let's recap.

Two pipes are buried and go across the road into my yard in the general trajectory as shown by the red line in the picture.

The county drainage folks will dig a ditch or put a mow-able valley do bring that water into the ditch behind the backyard. They will not purchase pipe or bury anything for me. I can buy the stuff myself.

I priced out pipe based on him telling me that the pipe under the road was around 18", and with the knowledge that there is a good volume of water there (not knowing if I could step it down) at a few places. The price seems to be $250-$300 for 20' long sections.

Dry Creek Bed

http://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/how-to-install-a-dry-creek-bed/index.html

http://www.bhg.com/gardening/landscaping-projects/landscape-basics/how-to-create-a-dry-creek/

Did you contact your local municipality to see if they will correct this?

Buy your neighbor's house and laugh at the guy next door with his flooded yard and basement.

2 pipes dump water on your lawn? 2 cans of great stuff big gap filler and a .22?

So they will fix the issue on their dime using ditches but if you want it buried then you are on the hook for materials?

Ditches don't have to be obnoxious to work, and free is good.

it doesn't even have to be a "ditch" to get the job done... it can be a couple of barely visible rolling hills with a barely noticable low spot in between them...

I think the mowable valley is the way to go.

I was a drainage engineer for 4 years. Ditch or pipe seem to be your two options. I would probably go for the mowable ditch.

If I am reading correctly, the county has acknowledged there is a problem and is offering to fix it for free. But, you don't like the "fixing method".

I have a drainage swale(ditch) between my place and a neighbor's. I put it in myself to solve a drainage problem and it is not really noticeable.

Or you could be like my B-I-L who has a problem like yours that the county won't even acknowledge that it exists. Been fighting with the county for 5 years and will probably end up in court.