Drainage question

[racerboy]

I have a large concrete drainage pipe that daylights on the back of my property, and the water runs through a paddock, down a hill and into my manure piles. This is probably by design because there is a berm in my paddock (which was just an open field behind the barn until I fenced it in earlier this year). I want to divert the water from going into the manure piles (and the black water runoff afterwards). I made a little diagram below that shows the basic layout and I drew how the current water drains (and it literally runs like a little stream) and then in red dotted line I put a couple ideas of how I thought I might divert the runoff into the swampy area to the right. Does this seem reasonable? What kind of drainage would you propose? I was thinking of a trench with crushed stone (no fines) and perforated pipe, but if I did Proposal 1, I might be able to just have an open trench with larger rocks in it for the length that runs along the shrubs.

 

[racerboy]

Here is the drainage pipe. That little orange flag is my property line marker.

 

[racerboy]

Here’s where all that water eventually winds up. I know I can move the manure poles further up the slope, above where the water drains across the open fiel of wild grass, but that would mean having to push wheelbarrows full of manure uphill twice a day. At this age, I’m trying to work smarter, not harder.

 

[racerboy]

One other option is to move the manure piles directly across from where they are now and build a block wall on the uphill side to stop water from getting into piles (Proposal 3 in red). I can’t build a concrete pad for the manure piles because I’ve run out of impervious coverage (state/local ordinance)

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

I like these types of projects.

@ first blush hard to help w/o knowing:
- do property lines come into play at all cause in some places you can't make work off your property and some might complain if you ran the water off your property onto somebody else's . Around here neighbours so far away we can do almost anything we want.
- flow rate you want to handle
- slopes we are working with
- What type of distances we're looking at?
- Do any environmental. concerns come into play with permits or anything like that. That looks like a serious **** drainpipe you're working with. Could it be belonging to a municipality or somebody who might get there Giblets in a knot If you were Rerouting the water outlow.

All that in play, I like the idea of route one.
It seems to cut across the important property the least.
For a design, I've had really good luck with French designed drainage channels as i can drive across them and not even know they exist but flow rate is not max versus open ditch approach. Also if nosy neighbors are involved a French drain is pretty hard to spot

 

[William1]

I'd... dig a trench and rip-rap it or.... put in a 16" concrete pipe (my preference, do it once and forget it.) Both in proposed 1

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

If you can get the grade right Proposed 1 with a swale that is mowable would be the best.
Not a huge expense and a huge gain.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

Agree with NIW, IF you can and WILL mow the swale. Best would be pipe though, as swale will fill in.
Curious WHOSE water comes out that pipe ? Is it a LOT or a little ?? Around here it's agin the law to dump YOUR water onto a neighbour's property.

 

[racerboy]

I think that water may come from the street up behind me. I think there are only two houses on that street. I will look at this a little closer. I posted a picture of the lane of property that is in Proposal 1. Not sure if you can tell from picture but there is an old rock wall on the left (covered in wine berry bushes). My property line is actually above that wall and farther to the left of the trees (about 5 ft)

 

[racerboy]

NIWM - I think there is a swale that cuts through the paddock. That may have been part of the the original design. Not sure if it visible in this photo but it runs under the fence in the forefront, along that ‘berm’ (not sure if that’s the right term) and then exits under the fence in the background. Would creating a different swale mean making a depression that runs along the top fence row?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Yes that's a swale, and yes if you can make a new one that runs parallel to the fence that might help you out.

 

[racerboy]

So, additional research suggests that the pipe is a municipality—owned reinforced concrete flared-end section (FES) discharge to manage the storm water from the sub-division up the hill behind me. I will double-check, but I think that is a an easement on my deed. I don’t believe I can mess with the pipe itself (nor would I want to) but since it’s owned by the town, and now there water is impacting my horse farm, I believe I can leverage the NJ Right to Farm act to allow me to re-divert the water around the paddock. It doesn’t solve my manure pile issue from a diversion perspective, but I also read that I might need to able to get a variance approved easily if it is for a concrete pad to store my manure. Apparently, where i live, any variance that is horse or livestock-related gets passed very quickly. Want to build a garage for you car collection… not so much. Ask me how I know. There is an ordinance that says you are only allowed to have two trailers stored outside on your property, unless they are horse/livestock trailers. Then there is no limit.

also, the swamp land on my drawing is not mine. While I would like to buy it from my neighbor, for no other reason than to preserve a buffer if they ever sell and someone new moves in, I don’t think I can reroute the rainwater there directly.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

I'd be real quick to find out HOW the city allowed a subdivision's water to be dumped onto your property !!! That should not have been allowed.
Since the swamp land isn't yours, you normally would not be allowed to dump your water, which used to be the division's water into it...
That being said, I'd dig a ditch from the pipe over to it NOW before it rains again.
As for the manure pile... se if you can find a lot of free concrete patio stones !

 

[Motion]

I'd suggest starting by shooting elevations on a 10'x10' grid of the area to eliminate any guess work.