sump pump drainage

ramelleday

I live in an area where all of our sump pumps drain to the back yard. My problem is that my neighbor right next to us has blocked the little drainage ditch and now I have large cat tails growing in my back yard. I also of course have a lot of standing water. I just recently got a sump pump going to pump it from the back to the front yard. Well, I realize that all the muck, grass and cat tails are still containing a lot of water. What do I need to do in order to get at the water trapped within the muck that has developed all summer long?

AllanJ

Where did the drainage ditch use to go.

It may have been and probably was illegal for your neighbor to fill in the drainage ditch.

Now the only way for water to leave the cattail area is to soak into the ground, which will be slow.

Where is the third next lowest area for water to go if you were to actually fill in that cattail area?

Another idea is to dig a pit in the cattail area for the sump pump to sit in or suck from. This will allow a quantity of clear water to accumulate before the sump pump kicks on. This will also create a low zone for the water in the cattail area to gravitate to and the rest of the cattail area will dry out faster.

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