Hard rain creek runs through yard. HELP

Bearcamp

That's the same thing I'm getting at.....Water won't flow uphill. But,,,,,just maybe I still don't understand. Also right where you want the swale, there's a new 4 horse stall goin in.

pls8xx

Since I didn't learn anything from fifty years of shaping and grading dirt and can't see what isn't in the photos, I must be wrong and you are probably right. Carry on. I don't know why I bothered to respond.

Bearcamp

Now don't be that way as you do have good ideas and I do appreciate the help. I'm probably the one who don't understand, that's why I came here to find out and learn. I'm a mechanic and work on small engine repair, land scaping is not my cup of tea. Bottom line is,,,,,,,,,not everybody knows everything. Have a small engine problem? Ask me.

Scuba_Dave

He is saying to dig down enough & add the dirt to the low spot/fill spot to have point (B) LOWER then point A . That still means digging down quite a bit

Point A is 6' above Point B according to the poster

pls8xx

OK, I'll give it one more try. The problem is not the water from the corral but all the excess water from the huge area beyond the corral that rushes across the corral and flushes all the crap into you yard. The area beyond the corral looks to be many times larger than the corral and so most of the water crossing your yard comes from there. If it was limited to just the rain from the corral, it would only be a trickle; not the type flow that carries all the gunk and washes away your grass seed.

I can't run water uphill either. Look at the edited photo below and you can see that point A behind the shed is several feet above where the flow comes into your yard. But all that area shaded blue at the backside of the corral and beyond is higher than point A and can be made to flow in that direction (it's downhill!)



If you are a mechanic maybe you were taking your bicycle apart when you were 10 years old. I was following a survey crew around when I was 10.

drtbk4ever

I now see clearly what pls8xx is talking about.

From the photo, it looks like that area beyond the pasture is much higher elevation than the pasture itself. I would go out there and determine a point B out there somewhere that is comparable to point A on the other side of the sheds.

If you can get most of that water drainage out of the way, the pasture drainage may not be so bad.

Bearcamp, I do like your idea of building a small retaining wall around the pasture to keep the dirt/debris in the pasture, but still let the water flow. I don't know how to do it, but I think it would look nice, especially with the rock foundation of the shed to the right.

I think Scuba Dave's idea of a creek bed would also be a nice touch. Nothing more spectacular than actually having water run through your river bed.

However, you must promise to come back and post photos of your solution.

Bearcamp

OK pls8xx, Goin out today and checkin things out for the swale. A buddy of mine has about 400 sand bags we could use if needed. That would give us a start to try it. I also can dig a very small ditch right where you say about the swale that might work also as they already have them in part of the yard and does work for routing water. But they're placed where it routes water into the yard. The underground stream is as it was years and years ago. Rocks piled up to make a small tunnel and travels about 1/4 of a mile. This place was build in 1880. OLDDDDDD.

Scuba_Dave

I see what he means too
Excellent idea, just didn't understand how

Thalweg

Pls8xx's recommendations are probably the best way for a long term fix, but when I work a project like this I usually try some simpler options before moving a lot of dirt. I think you were on track with your rock "wall". We call them rock check dams. I build them out of 6-inch angular rock. I generally make them about 2 feet high with the center lower than the ends. The idea is to cause the runoff water to pool on the upstream side to slow the velocity. This will cause the suspended sediment to drop out on the upstream side. The use of medium sized rock will allow water to flow through the rock rather than over. If they do pool too much water, they've got to be set so that water will flow over the top rather than around. If it goes around, it will erode. The key to rock check dam effectiveness is maintenance. When they fill about 1/2 way to the top, the collected sediment must be removed. We usually look at these as a temporary measure to control sediment until the upstream area gets vegetated, which obviously isn't in the cards for you as long as you've got horses in the pasture. However, as long as you maintain these regularly, they will work well. I've built hundreds of them and they're very effective. Depending on how much runoff you actually get, you may need a series of checks, but from what I see in the pictures, I'd start with one at the fence-line and see what happens. I've got lots of pictures at the office, but won't be back in the office for about a week. However, you can find lots of pitures and diagrams by doing a Google search on "rock ditch check"

As you know, you need to get grass growing below the fence-line. The check should slow the water velocity and make that easier. But I'd also over seed the area heavily and line it with an erosion control fabric like jute. As small as the area is you could probably use burlap. Just make sure its stapled into the ground well. Keep it well irrigated ant the grass will grow right up through the fabric.

I'd also look into controlling water uphill as much as possible. If you can prevent water from running onto the pasture (diverting around) you'd reduce your problem. Also, water bars or ditches installed on contour in the pasture would reduce sheet flow across the pasture and trap sediment before it gets to your lawn.

There are a lot of ways to remedy this problem. If I were working it, I'd keep things as simple as possible, until simple is proven not to work.

Good luck

Bearcamp

Heyyyyy all, thanks for the ideas and input. We ended up doing a few small ditches towards the top of the field that helped but not what was needed. So I continued with the rock wall and took it a little further and put in a rock garden. Well,,,,,,,,,,we had some good rain falls and it worked great. The manure and mud stayed above the wall and left the water through to continue down the yard. No problem. The only issue we have so far is general maintence removing the mud and muck once in a while. No big deal. So,,,,you wanted pics, here they are. Let me know what you think. We planted some flowers and grasses but a pile of ivy. We're not quite done but getting there.

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Thalweg

Looks good. I never thought of having a downstream rock garden. I like it. Maybe I'll use that one sometime.