Our sump runs all the time in the basement. The result is that we
always have soggy places in our yard where we put the outlet tube.
Compounding this is the fact that the water table seems to be high
here, so low places on our property are prone to being soggy anyway,
after rains and such. We live in a rural area with no city service
such as storm drains.

Over the summer, we found some old field tile in the yard and it seemed
to be "working" in that I could stick the garden hose in there and it
would seemingly take as much as I could dump in. We decided to tie the
sump outlet into this tile, and ran it through some perforated tile
along the way thinking that we could maybe dry up the yard a little
while we're at it.

It seemed to be working until recently (spring) when the perforated
section began overflowing and causing water to pool up above where it
is. We have a lot of snow that is melting right now. The hole where
we dug down to the tile is still open since we never got around to
filling it, and it is full of water all the way up to about 4-6" below
the surface of the yard. I dug another small hole nearby, and it fills
in with water at that depth too. It seems as though the whole water
table is barely below the surface of the yard.

I have two questions after all that. How the heck might we get rid of
all this water? And second, how can our septic tank still be
functional with the water so high? Could it be that in clay soil, the
water level can be significantly different within a few hundred feet?

--

You might contact a county agent or local pier drilling contractor
to see if anyone in your area has tried punching a dry well. It
is sometimes quite effective to drill a large diameter and deep
hole and fill it with gravel to drop the water table in a limited
area. Your sump piping should deliver water to daylight or to a
well graded area, it sounds a bit like you are pouring your own
water back in.

Clay is not good about allowing surface water percolate into the
subsoil. I, too, wonder how your septic system seems to work with
the problems you indicate. I assume you have drainage away from
the house for gutters/downspouts, you don't hold water against the
building, you don't have flower beds and plantings against the
house.

--
______________________________
Keep the whole world singing . . . .
DanG (remove the sevens)




"Charles" wrote in message
news:3AVCj.24103$TT4.18280@attbi_s22...
Our sump runs all the time in the basement. The result is that
we
always have soggy places in our yard where we put the outlet
tube.
Compounding this is the fact that the water table seems to be
high
here, so low places on our property are prone to being soggy
anyway,
after rains and such. We live in a rural area with no city
service
such as storm drains.

Over the summer, we found some old field tile in the yard and it
seemed
to be "working" in that I could stick the garden hose in there
and it
would seemingly take as much as I could dump in. We decided to
tie the
sump outlet into this tile, and ran it through some perforated
tile
along the way thinking that we could maybe dry up the yard a
little
while we're at it.

It seemed to be working until recently (spring) when the
perforated
section began overflowing and causing water to pool up above
where it
is. We have a lot of snow that is melting right now. The hole
where
we dug down to the tile is still open since we never got around
to
filling it, and it is full of water all the way up to about 4-6"
below
the surface of the yard. I dug another small hole nearby, and
it fills
in with water at that depth too. It seems as though the whole
water
table is barely below the surface of the yard.

I have two questions after all that. How the heck might we get
rid of
all this water? And second, how can our septic tank still be
functional with the water so high? Could it be that in clay
soil, the
water level can be significantly different within a few hundred
feet?

--

DanG wrote:

You might contact a county agent or local pier drilling contractor to
see if anyone in your area has tried punching a dry well. It is
sometimes quite effective to drill a large diameter and deep hole and
fill it with gravel to drop the water table in a limited area.

I considered something like this, but the concern is with mixing
surface water with the well water people drink. I simply don't know
whether the two currently mix, or if we have a layer of clay or rock
between the two.

Your
sump piping should deliver water to daylight or to a well graded
area, it sounds a bit like you are pouring your own water back in.


Well, it's possible, but my thought was that the tile took the water
someplace "else". There are retaining ponds fairly close, there just
happens to be 3-4 properties in between.

Clay is not good about allowing surface water percolate into the
subsoil. I, too, wonder how your septic system seems to work with
the problems you indicate. I assume you have drainage away from the
house for gutters/downspouts, you don't hold water against the
building, you don't have flower beds and plantings against the house.

Yeah, we graded away from the house and all the downspouts run far
away. The sump runs year round, even when the grass is dying from lack
of rain. It's a strange situation.


--

I am lucky to live on the side of a hill, inasmuch as the water runs
down and away.
However, when we moved here the place was damp because of the water
running through cracks in the clay and into the back of our home. We
solved the problem by making a French drain right across the top of
the property, its about six feet deep and twenty five yards long.
While we were digging we could see the water running through the clay
and into the drain.Now all the water is diverted round our home and
away.
This is also how our septic tank works as the lines were dug in clay.
If you dig a large hole and study how the water arrives and departs,
you may well solve your problem.
Perry