Reverse "Septic" Drainage Field,, Will It Work?

[CADplans]

My SIL has (HAD?) a wet weather spring near the house,,,

The worst part is when it rains, the excess water comes up,
and promptly runs to EXACTLY where they park their cars,,,

Our first hope was to find an abandoned water line.
The home originally had spring fed water, we were hoping to find the pipe,,, and cap it.

The area was dug 2 feet deep with the IH 584,, I can dig 4 feet deep,, but it makes a big hole.





(Actually,, I was just proving that the IH 584 is not just a "Trailer Queen"!)

We found nothing,,, so we decided to dig a mini drainage field,,,
and use it in reverse,, to carry the water away from the area.

I dug a hole about 4 feet deep for the infiltration chamber, then another 3+ feet under it.



The 18" wide deep section was refilled with old broken concrete, and rocks.

The hope is that the water will find its way into the chamber, to be carried away by the 4" pipe,,
or just go down into the soil.

We do not care which happens, as long as it stops coming to the surface.



Next the infiltration chamber was set in place, and covered with landscape fabric.
The ends were blocked with large rocks, broken concrete, and gravel.





My SIL backfilled the hole with the JD 855,,



now,,,
all we have to do is wait for rain,, and see if we captured the spring.

If we missed, or moved the spring, we will dig from there,
and "french drain" the water to the infiltration chamber.

I have heard that springs can be tricky,,, if you dig,,, they will move somewhere else,,,,

Hmmmmmmmmmmm,,,,,,,,,,,

My daughter came out while we were working,,,
she said her yard looked like it was the local tractor dealer's used vehicle lot!



LOL!

Even if the project is a total failure,, we had a LOT of fun,,, on a sunny warm day in February,,,

I have never attempted anything like this,,,
so, the question is,,
did we succeed,,, or is that wet weather spring going to elusively just "move on" ??

[Sam Mac]

Looks like you had fun playing with your fleet.

[Alvy]

Looks good. What made you decide to dig exactly there? I'm assuming you guys had monitored where the majority of the water came up and marked it while it happened?

Btw love the cad plans backhoe, no self promoting on your part but I will, that little thing is a beast!

[john hall]

We have several springs here, one of which feeds the farm shop. Generally you can't drive anything over the ones that aren't dug out for water supply, or that have a drainage line, unless we are in the middle of a drought. There are 2 over in the old horse pasture that dad had dug out with a backhoe and laid corrugated pipe with holes in it, running the open end to a ditch about 40 ft away. Those are on a hillside, you can ride by on a summer day and see them draining. Too bad yours is so close to the house, you could turn it into a pond. Years ago we had 6 ponds (property sold--down to 1 now) and every one was dug over a spring.

[CADplans]

Originally Posted by Alvy

Looks good. What made you decide to dig exactly there? I'm assuming you guys had monitored where the majority of the water came up and marked it while it happened?

For years, there has been a hole, right in the middle of where we dug.
Hard rain,,, water came up,, and eroded a mini "ditch" going away from the hole.

Actually, the property has a 24/7/365 spring,, probably over 20 GPM.
That spring does feed their pond.
The spring was the source of water for the house as used by the PO.

When my daughter went to buy the house,, the seller was forced to drill a well, before closing,,,
some rule about no springs are allowed to be used for water,,.
Recently, we tested the water a couple times,, the spring has E-coli in it,,,

THAT 250 feet deep well was a shock to the sellers budget!

[ambrola]

Originally Posted by CADplans

For years, there has been a hole, right in the middle of where we dug.
Hard rain,,, water came up,, and eroded a mini "ditch" going away from the hole.

Actually, the property has a 24/7/365 spring,, probably over 20 GPM.
That spring does feed their pond.
The spring was the source of water for the house as used by the PO.

When my daughter went to buy the house,, the seller was forced to drill a well, before closing,,,
some rule about no springs are allowed to be used for water,,.
Recently, we tested the water a couple times,, the spring has E-coli in it,,,

THAT 250 feet deep well was a shock to the sellers budget!

I know what your Daughter went through. I had the same thing happen to a very expensive acre of lake property. Went to sell it, and they checked the well and it was like your Daughters. We never drank from that well, but used it to shower and flush toilets. It only had a 100 yr old trailer on it that we used at the 4th and some summer week ends. That ended up costing me a pocket full of change, capping the old well and digging a new one. BTW, you have some very nice equipment there.

[john hall]

That's a high volume spring! None of the ones here come close to that, probably less than a gallon. 2 of them supplied houses until the 90's, then wells were dug. One is about 6 foot deep, the other about 4. The 4 footer dates back as a water supply to the 1800's we think--it was supplying water for dad's house when his dad bought it in '42--according to dad it all looked old then. I'm pretty certain they were pumping water then (old Meyers piston pump), probably dipping with a bucket prior to that--no sign of a dug well ever.

We have a wet weather spring we farm over---it better be pretty darn dry before you drive through it. Odds are if you plant through it, you'll never drive a combine over it, or the other way around.

[ambrola]

( probably dipping with a bucket prior to that)

That brings back memories. My Great Grandmother had a well with the bucket you let hit the water and wound it back up. I was just a kid and remember the tin dipper that hung on the well. We would play around that well when I was around 10. Wouldn't it scare the dickens out of Moms today.

[Jumper]

Originally Posted by john hall

I'm pretty certain they were pumping water then (old Meyers piston pump), probably dipping with a bucket prior to that--no sign of a dug well ever.

All the old houses in my area used a cistern in the basement to collect rain water and a hand pump in the kitchen to pump it out. I bet that water tasted good.



Cad.... I bet you photo shopped the 584 trailer queen into that picture....... Nice try though.