Swampy poor drainage area/how to correct?

[Mitigator33]

I have an area of my property (1/8 acre to 1/4 acre at most) that is swampy. I recently cleared the trees that kept it in the dark and am waiting on the dry season to get here so it dries out. There is a creek that runs that side of the property about 20-50 feet away.

How do I get this area to drain better and not have standing water any longer?

I have a 50HP tractor with FEL and just purchased a box blade. So those are the tools I have to work with.

I was thinking of taking the box blade and cutting a drainage ditch and sloping everything to it and having it drain to the creek. I have never done this though and am not sure if that would work.

Scott

 

[jdmar]

If you have slope to the creek I would put in perforated drain lines underground. The older term is "tile draining" a field....but most use plastic now. If you have one central low spot you can add a basin or "Higgenbothom" to that area to rapidly drain the surface water.

I have wet "muck" soil...sort of like peat. I put in a bit over 2000 feet of 6 inch line last year and about 1000 feet (little less) of 4" line. I will add some more side feeders this year to help in the lower spots. The 6 inch line was just double wall perforated without a sock. Depending on your soil you may need a sock or gravel around the pipe. The 4inch feeders are single wall with a sock. The line drains 24/7/365 just about. Sometimes it is a slow trickle...other times pouring. You need very little slope to keep it going.

Just try to get deep enough not to crush with whatever equipment you have. The double wall is better for this obviously.

 

[nybirdman]

Google "french drain" ,as soon as it dries up some:I am going to be putting in about 400 ft. or so myself.

 

[Egon]

50HP tractor with FEL

That is all you need to make the trench. Start at the swamp end but far enough away so you are not working in water. Make the trench the width of the bucket. make it full depth and keep the bottom smooth as you go along. Then back-slope the sides and take out the plug that remains at the swamp end.:thumbsup:

It needs patience backing up the trench for each bucket of dirt.

Don't know how the "Wet Lands" thing affects your situation??

 

[Marty38]

I wish I was able to drain my red maple swamp

 

[ktm250rider]

I wish I was able to drain my red maple swamp

I wish I could just easily bridge my stream!

 

[Marty38]

I wish I could just easily bridge my stream!

I'm bound by all the Fed , State , and Local regs. I just want fewer mosquitos , and a.little more dry land .

 

[wrooster]

I was thinking of taking the box blade and cutting a drainage ditch and sloping everything to it and having it drain to the creek. I have never done this though and am not sure if that would work. Scott

Scott,

See
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/178231-determining-if-french-drain-will-4.html#post2044573

And then google "French Drain". Order a couple of tons of 3/4" clean stone, get some lengths of 4" PVC (perf and non) and go at it.

Wrooster

 

[boggen]

you noted creek 20 to 50 feet away, but you did not mention height difference from top of water level in creek to swampy area.

nor did you state how water drainage is going on in that area.
examples... do you have some hills that are draining water into this area?
do you have possibly a spring?
is the area just lower compared to other areas?
is the area just a few inches above the creeks water level?

field tile, or french drain. most of it is all plastic pipe with slots or holes in them. as as other said you may or may not need a sock over the pipes, and you may or may not need rock around the pipe. to get good drainage.

but you may need to bring dirt in, and re-slope, re-do grade of dirt for that area. so it has a place to drain to. vs collecting in that area.

it may come down to, digging a regular ditch, like you see on the road side into this area. and then installing a 6", 8", 10", 12" or like culvert for this area. so you can drive across this area.

when dealing with soaked wet dirt. like marsh area. you may have to go at the project in stages so you can get tractor into areas to dig a ditch, or to install french drain, or to bring in dirt. and it may mean waiting a few months between each stage. as you wait for areas to dry out enough to drive over without getting stuck.

if you had a backhoe or excavator. it might be a tad different story than above paragraph. but dealing with the "getting stuck part" is still there.

 

[milkman636]

If you have some high ground with extra dirt on it, you could also pull some fill off and build up the swampy area so it'll drain without a ditch or drain. If you can build it up higher than the creek bank, and slope it slightly toward the creek, nature will drain it for you.

 

[Mitigator33]

I will go by and snap a picture after work today of it and post it but it is basically a low spot next to the creek. It is a good 2-3 feet above the creek but everything slopes down to this spot from the front, side and back of the property then rises back up to the creek bank. This creek is only about 4 ft wide. That is why I was thinking that just cutting a ditch and using the box blade to help slope towards ditch/creek would be easiest. This part of the property is the far NW corner that will not be traveled much and the natural slope of the land takes everything to this one spot so cutting a drainage ditch and sending that ditch to the creek seemed logical to me. I guess I could try that and if it did not work I would already have a ditch started to then make into a trench and put pipe in, etc...for a french drain.

 

[boggen]

your last post, kinda gave me the hibee jibees. you need to be careful when putting in ditches and more so put in thought about erosion control. it may work for a few years. but after that, it might turn out to be an ugly mess. were you have 2 to 3 feet trench that has been washed away with heavy down pours of rain.

and in that, you might look into seeing about hauling in some good size rocks to line bottom of ditch. or perhaps make it wider vs narrow and deep. so it takes much longer for heavy rains to wash things out and allows you to mow it.

there are a 1000's of ways of going about it, no wrong or right way. but there might be a better way that last longer and less up keep over the years.

to note it, be careful with erosion control.

 

[Mitigator33]

Boggen,

Thanks for posting that. That is why I posted here. I am new to this and would have never thought of that.

Looks like my best bet would be to install the french drain. I have attached a sketch of the plan.

Obviously this is not to scale and the drain line would run the entirety of the wet area.

 

[pycoed]

Pond!

 

[boggen]

*rubs chin*

8" double wall culvert, 55 gallon drum. and good size strong piece of grate. that will fit a few inches on all sides over 55 gallon drum top.

prefer double wall vs single wall culvert, due to double wall culvert has a nice smooth inside, and less chance of sticks and other muck getting stuck inside of the culvert.

if you can burry the culvert 1 foot or deeper so when done there is a foot or more of dirt over culvert, you should be ok, when you drive over the top of it.

the 55 gallon drum. cut hole in lower side of drum to side culvert part way into. cut the top out of 55 gallon drum ((top out, not cut the top off. leave 1 to 2 inches around the edge, this adds a lot of extra strength to the drum so it does not cave in on itself))

drill some holes in bottom of drum. ((this is to make it so, drum will not act like a boat and come up and out of the ground on you))

drill some holes around side of drum. this will allow water to soak into the drum. ((all holes say 1/4" size))

get yourself some spray foam "closed cell type" (example "great stuff, in red can") and spray in between culvert and drum. and let it cure for a couple days. this will give you a descent seal. with some flexing.

put say 6" of gravel below drum, and 1 foot or so wide around drum. ((drainage rock, crushed rock, something to allow water to soak into drum))

at the very top pour concrete say 8" thick 1 foot or side wide all way around drum. ((top of concrete should be level with lowest spot of area))

place a good size / strength grating over top of 55 gallon drum / concrete. so if you drive over spot you do not fall into it. also make sure grating has small enough holes. so no child or animal can fall down into drum. might suggest anchoring the grating down with "concrete anchors and some bolts"

the goal of above, would be like having a bath tub drain. were all water for area runs down into. and exits out into the creek. and there would be no ditches, or ravens, or major wash outs happening. or you could look at it like an "overflow" on a pond or lake. but in this case, you are not wanting any water.

=======================
you can do the french drain setup as your diagram posted as well.

or just do a standard culvert, like a culvert underneath a driveway. but between creek and low spot. and just have a larger hole at end of culvert in low spot you will have to watch out for.

if you are not planning on lake / pond. i would say just re-slope / grade the entire area first. and if having mush areas. i might suggest running a french drain / field tile up near bottom of hill sides. so the french drain / field tiles run parallel to the hill side, so water coming down hills hits the french drain / tiles and then every so often run a pipe from french drain down to creek. so the water hits the french drains first. vs water running across flat areas of land.

multi ways of going about it. no wrong or right way. perhaps one would work better for you than another.

 

[Mitigator33]

Here are some pictures from the area I am speaking of.