Need with help with eroding stream in field

[Bill Guenthner]

I have a problem with a small stream eroding away and need some advice on how to best stabilize it. I have 2 small pastures separated by a fence. The upper field has about an 18" pipe feeding into what used to be a small pond (maybe 15ft across). The water exited this pond through a 12" plastic pipe, underneath my fence and then dumped into what used to be a larger pond. The land bridge in between the two was only about 10ft max. The lower pond I drained years ago. The land bridge has eroded and I don't know the best way to stabilize it. I don't need a pond in the upper section but would like the stream to continue so the animals could have water in that field. I am going to try to add photos to show what is going on. If I could end up with a stream all the way through that would be fine. I seem to be having trouble with the pics....no matter how small I make them it says they are too big

It’s almost a ditch already. Why not pull the pipe, grade a ditch and line it with rock or concrete? If you redo the culvert then the next gully washer has the potential to undo all your effort. Or maybe you can just grade a swale and plant grass. It looks like that’s pretty much what you have upstream.

 

[LouNY]

thanks for the replies. I do have animals on both sides. I will definitely put a larger pipe in with gravel at base and compact to rebuild land bridge. I like the idea of a drinking trough at the mouth of the other pipe. It would be nice if I can run the outlet of the trough into the culvert to contain the water. Are there any commercials troughs with outlets for a pipe? Maybe I can form one out of concrete?

Haven't seen one in years you'll have to pour your own

 

[RjCorazza]

Nonsense. That is what NRCS does, and they do it better than anyone else. They are a service agency, not a regulatory agency.

I am from the government, and I am here to help.

 

[Egon]

remove the culvert, dig both side in a v put the some gravel as a base put back the culvert and backfill with gravel and compact.

This would sound like the way to go. Just make sure the pipe inlet is below grade and ported from erosion.

 

[newbury]

I am from the government, and I am here to help.

That's how the "wetland laws" came about.
Very similar to air pollution laws.
People don't seem to remember the "tragedy of the commons".
Air pollution once got so bad in many cities that air was acid and difficult to breath. Visibility was greatly reduced.
Wetlands start with the damp spot in your yard. It then gets deeper as you collect more water and go downhill. They act as a buffer or sponge to decrease water flow downstream and filter the water. In addition they are a nursery for organisms that feed larger organisms and up the food chain to man,
But since wetlands are by nature flat they are prime areas for development.

Ask MossRoads about the "Great Black Swamp".

 

[LouNY]

This would sound like the way to go. Just make sure the pipe inlet is below grade and ported from erosion.

All the culvert replacement Ideas sound good except for one little thing, water flowing through a pasture with hoofed animals drinking from it will not stay in it's original stream bed and especially with cows they will trample and mush the edges into the water flow and you end up with just a mucky soft mess punctuated with hoof prints and the smaller the flow the worse it gets.

 

[wisconsitom]

Again, wherever hard armoring ends, new erosion begins. I'd be looking at working with the way water behaves, not against it. And contrary to some internet snark going on in this thread, there are indeed programs out there to help manage this very sort of thing. You've already paid for this expertise, may as well make use of it.

 

[2manyrocks]

The Center for Dirt and Gravel Roads has a number of technical bulletins about how to properly construct drain systems. This is not my area of expertise. Looking at your pics, it seems to me that the water is not being funneled into the entry of the pipe and/or the pipe isn't large enough to handle all the water flow. So the water is working its way under and around the pipe causing the gully to grow.

I'd guess this area stays wet making it pretty hard to work in.

You might read through these two tech bulletins and see if they give you some ideas about how to go about fixing your drainage problem.

https://www.dirtandgravel.psu.edu/sites/default/files/General%20Resources/Technical%20Bulletins/TB_Stacked_Stone_Headwalls.pdf

TB_Crosspipe_Installation.pdf

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Pipe too small. Three ft culvert would help. B0x drain would be better. Them little streams ain't little all the time. Does the pond have a spillway area?

 

[2manyrocks]

How would the OP compact the material to lay a bigger pipe when water evidently flows through it? Wait for a dry spell? Dig a diversion trench?