We have three acres of clay, and after a heavy or consistent rainfall, we are covered in mud, with some flooding. Having horses, this is not a good situation. Do I need to tile? Can I dig a ditch? Are there other options?
We are new to country life, and just bought this place a few months ago--not knowing that the land floods.
Any ideas would be helpful!
Depends. See where the water naturally wants to go. If it just wants to sit there because your 3A is flat, maybe regrading will do the trick. Look ahead to where you're planning to move the water and try and get it to the natural drainage course. Hard to tell without standing next to it during and after a good rainfall as to the best and/or least effort option. Can you post pictures?
Anything you do in the way of draining water off your property may affect a neighbor. Be sure you take that into consideration in whatever plan you go with. I know in my county, just a few years ago, they changed the law so that any dirt you move that affects the drainage onto or off your property requires a permit from the county.
I have taken pics, but now must wait patiently for my dh to post them as I don't know how to get them off the camera.
they will be up soon. thanks!
Hope you are not in a depression (elevation wise or emotionally) because that makes it harder or more expensive to correct. If water runs off yor property now you will probably need to try to encourage that rather that totally terraforming the whole area.
Could you use a pond? If you reshape your land a bit so it drains FIRST to a new pond you dig that will reduce your mud and standing water problem in conditions of moderate rainfall. You will still need to have a safe path for pond overflow for when it fills up and you get more rain. Worst case with a full pond and more rain you will not have more water running off of your property than without the pond and in lesser rain episodes you will not have runoff.
You will need to run any ideas like this past any regulatory agencies with jurisdiction as some places prohibit impounding water or interfering with it in just about any way. If you are allowed to do so and like the idea, dig a deep pond and use the removed dirt for building a dam (if you need a dam which you may not) and use all or part of the excavated dirt to raise the level of the lowest areas of your land.
Observing, taking measurements, and recording locations and notes with considerable water on the ground will be quite useful for determining the actual relative elevations/grades on your property. A good laser transit can do it too for a few hundred $ more.
Hope some of this may prove useful.
Pat
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
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Looks like you won't need a dam to have a pond. You have a large shallow pond now. I'd look into any applicable regulations and go with the pond approach. Excavated soil can be used to slightly raise the worst of the lowest areas. You might need to adjust the grade in a few places to drain the surface to the pond. Placement of the pond should be made with consideration for where the overflow will go. You may be required to run the overflow the same place your excess water goes now after it exceeds your current shallow pond's capacity.
Sorry to sound like a stuck record but I do like the pond solution. There are alternatives such as digging a grid of drainage ditches or hauling in enough soil to raise you up so you don't have standing water after a rain. Essentially you would be making your land have a convex topography rather than concave.
The drainage ditching is about as extensive as pond excavating and makes for an irregular surface not conducive to driving, tractoring, etc. as well as not being particularly attractive. Raising the level of the land is EXPENSIVE and if you aren't careful with your handling of the runoff water you may create a contentious situation with neighbors.
If a pond's overflow goes where your current runoff goes it shouldn't cause a neighbor problem.
How did your land get into this water puddling condition? Did someone have a sod farm and over time lower the level or what?
Pat
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
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