Excess water in the summer cottage leads to soil leaching, a decrease in the yield of horticultural crops, and deformation of residential and outbuildings. In this case, it is important for everyone who has encountered such a problem to know how to drain the area from water with their own hands.
What influences the choice of dehumidification method
The accumulation of water on the site can occur for many reasons, but the main ones are the following:
- groundwater level rise;
- the site is located in the lowlands, which contributes to the rapid accumulation of precipitation;
- clayey and loamy soils with low moisture absorption coefficient.
Most problem areas on the site are determined in the off-season, when the maximum amount of precipitation falls, - in early spring and late autumn. It is recommended to pump water from the site during the dry period - in summer.
Rapid drainage of the land is carried out by several methods. When choosing suitable option to solve the problem, it is necessary to take into account the main factors:
- type and level of water permeability of the soil;
- size of land;
- optimal level of water drop;
- soil drying period from ground water;
- finished buildings on the site that require drainage;
- direction of underground sources;
- presence and type of vegetation.
The most popular methods of draining the land on the site are drainage system, sewage pits and ditches, elements landscape design, moisture-loving shrubs and trees.
Closed and open drainage systems
Modern drainage systems allow you to quickly and effectively get rid of excess fluid in the area. Simple drainage consists of a pipeline and a water receiver. A stream, lake, river, ravine or ditch can be used as a water intake.
The drainage system is arranged from the water intake to land plot in compliance with optimal distance between its main elements. On dense soils with a high content of clay, the distance between individual drains should be 8–10 meters, on loose and heaving soils - up to 18 meters.
open drainage
The open or French drainage system is a shallow ditches, the bottom of which is filled with fine gravel and stones. Such drainage is arranged quite simply: a ditch of small depth is dug out with the discharge of effluents into a drainage well or a deep trench to the level of the sand layer, which is used as a drainage cushion.
A drainage well measuring 1 × 1 m can have a closed and open structure, its bottom is filled with medium fraction gravel and brick battle. Such structures do not clog, but are filled with soil, which is washed out with water. For this reason, draining this type of well is much more difficult than an open gutter.
Closed drainage
Technically complex device, which will quickly remove excess water and prevent it from stagnation. The arrangement of closed drainage is carried out using pipes made of clay or asbestos cement with laying in a certain order - in a straight line or herringbone. Drainage closed type suitable for areas with a slight slope, which provides a natural flow of water.
Closed drains are often combined with drainage systems that allow water to be carried away from the base of the house.
Sewage pits and ditches
Many owners choose a fairly simple way to solve the problem of draining areas by digging drains and ditches. The arrangement of a cone-shaped pit is carried out as follows: at the lowest point, you need to dig a pit up to 100 cm deep, up to 200 cm wide at the top and 55 cm at the bottom. The dehumidification system is quite efficient, since excess moisture can be discharged into sewers without the use of additional funds.
The process of arranging sewers is more laborious, but no less effective. Ditches are dug along the entire perimeter of the territory - the depth and width are 45 cm. The walls are made at an angle of 25 degrees. The bottom is laid out with a brick battle or gravel. The main disadvantage of ditches is their gradual shedding, so it is worthwhile to carry out timely cleaning and strengthening the walls with boards or concrete slabs.
Landscape design elements - streams and ponds
Effectively get rid of excess water on the site due to the arrangement of artificial ponds and streams. Similar elements of landscape design can be organized in areas located at a slight slope.
Water sources are best arranged in dark places to avoid water blooms. Bottom artificial pond laid out with stone or geotextile.
To enhance the effect, moisture-loving vegetation can be planted next to an artificial reservoir - shrubs, plants, grass.
Such landscape forms are structurally reminiscent of the French drainage system, since they are equipped according to the same principle.
Moisture-loving plantations - shrubs, trees and grass
To drain the soil, moisture-loving trees, shrubs and grasses are used, which are able to pump out excess water.
In order for green spaces to remove moisture, you need to know which varieties are recommended to be planted on the site. Such plantations include: willow, birch, maple, alder and poplar.
Shrubs are no less in demand: hawthorn, wild rose and vesicle. In moist soils, hydrangea, shadberry, spirea, mock orange and Amur lilac develop.
To give the site attractiveness and aesthetics, moisture-loving garden flowers are planted - iris, aquilegia and asters.
Too wet soil is not suitable for growing fruit trees- pears, apple trees, plums and apricots. Therefore, when choosing trees, it is better to give preference to seedlings with a superficial root system. Planting trees is carried out on hills up to 55 cm high.
To do this, a peg is driven into the soil, the earth around it is dug to a depth of up to 25 cm. A prepared seedling is tied to the peg, the roots are sprinkled with earth with the addition of humus. The root neck remains exposed to a height of up to 8 cm above the ground.
After planting is completed, the seedling is watered abundantly with water to get rid of the air gaps between the root system and the soil.
Important! Excessively wet soil hyperacidity, therefore, when draining, it is recommended to additionally carry out its liming. This will improve the quality of the soil for further gardening and farm work.
During operation, the condition of the soil on the site is carefully checked, since excess moisture can have negative impact for horticultural crops, residential and commercial buildings. The procedure for draining the soil is recommended to be carried out simultaneously with liming.
Now every landowner knows the answer to the question of how to get rid of water on the site and do it right. This will require free time, desire and financial investments.
Hello!
In the spring, we bought a plot in gardening. Although it was already melting with might and main, there was no water on the site, so we decided that the site was located in a good place. There were no large trees on the site, but this is because they were simply cut down, leaving large stumps: birch, spruce and aspen. The entire area is covered with young undergrowth, the same birch, aspen, several Christmas trees. There were also mountain ash and even one wild fruit-bearing apple tree. Therefore, they concluded that it was definitely not a swamp.
Since we wanted to quickly uproot everything, we hired an excavator. Before that, they cut down everything that could fit for firewood. The excavator suggested this option - he drives into the site, pulls out all the stumps, digs a large hole in the corner, rakes the stumps there, fills the hole, levels everything - voila, a flat area. He argued that he had already done this many times, everything was fine.
Well, that's pretty much what happened, but not all. The man turned out to be smart, did not wait for our arrival, but did everything alone. According to him, when he began to dig a hole for stumps, water gushed into it. Nevertheless, he heroically dug it out and raked the stumps there. During this time, the soil began to get wet, the excavator began to get stuck and the man decided not to tempt fate anymore - he left, leaving everything as it was.
The parents went to the site and were completely shocked by what they saw - everything was dug up, in the part farthest from the road there was a huge pile of clay, next to it there was a huge puddle, as they say, over the edge. The excavator nevertheless agreed to come again and level the heap of clay, he did it, but not completely. In addition, getting back through the ditch from the road, he decided to "clean" it and dug another hole in the place of the ditch. How it looks now - in the photographs.What do we have now. Plot 25 by 40 meters, the narrow part of the road. From the side of the road south-southwest. By the road, a section is half a meter somewhere below the road, then the section gradually drops to the far edge. They didn’t measure exactly, but somewhere around half a meter, or a little more. Neighbors on the left and right have their own plots, their plots are half a meter higher. The section following us seems to have a planned rise. So it turns out that our site is located in a local lowland, everything that surrounds it is higher and higher. In general, the terrain in horticulture is not entirely flat, for example, a few sections from our soil level is noticeably lower, but it is quite dry there.
The ditch from the road is now wide and filled with water almost to the brim, there is no outflow from it towards the neighbors. There are no other ditches around the site. The fertile layer (what was left of it after the tractor) is about 20 cm, then yellow clay with rare small stones. Now, next to a pile of clay left after digging a stump hole, there is a huge puddle, I don’t know how deep it is, and I don’t know if the ill-fated hole is in its place.What you want to get as a result: a leveled area, possibly with a slope, on which there will never be long-term puddles. On the site it is planned to build a house for 4 people. At the same time, there must be a fertile layer sufficient for a vegetable garden (parents cannot imagine a plot without a vegetable garden)
The pit with stumps is especially disturbing. After all, in fact, it turned out to be a large cavity filled with a loose structure that does not have drains. After all, it will never be dry there. Maybe it makes sense to get stumps out of it, fill the hole with clay, and already fertile soil upstairs?
And if all the neighbors raised plots, it turns out that we also have no other choice but to raise our own?Sorry for the long post, I just want to get valuable advice how to fix the situation.
A wet area is a problem area. From excess groundwater, the foundations of buildings are destroyed, pool bowls are squeezed out of the soil, moss swells garden paths and playgrounds are dying garden plants. But excess moisture is not the final verdict on the land allotment, this problem is completely solvable: such a plot can be drained. If you are just choosing a place for the estate, you should take a closer look at its location even before making a purchase. How to know that the earth suffers from excessive moisture? First you need to pay attention to what prevails on this soil. Cattail, meadowsweet, marsh chastuha, and alder from trees like to grow on damp sites. You should be alerted by non-drying puddles in the absence of rain in the last few days, damp wet soil in the lowlands (especially if there clay soil), the proximity of a pond, swamp, river and even a small stream.
Dampness on the site may also appear after the development of the territory, when the foundations of buildings and fences, retaining walls are in the way of the natural flow of melt and rainwater. The rise of groundwater is often provoked by massive felling of trees on and off the site and flooding of peat bogs. When groundwater is closer than 1.8-2.5 m from the surface of the earth, the problem of excessive moisture can only be solved correctly organized system drainage. The most effective drainage is common to the entire village or at least to several neighboring plots. At the same time, together with neighbors, you can order a full-fledged soil drainage project. Before dwelling on drainage systems in more detail, we note that on wetlands, in combination with drainage, other methods of dealing with dampness are also practiced. Clay impervious to water is shoveled with sand, the lowlands are raised with imported soil. You can build up not the whole allotment, but part of it, for example, by pouring hills in the right places for growing fruit trees.
Designing a drainage system is an important matter. If any significant nuance is not taken into account in the process, the consequences can turn out to be quite serious and lead, for example, to the settlement of a house or a slope sliding. Before starting to deal with excess moisture in the soil, it is necessary to carry out survey work. According to the rules, a drainage project is developed on the basis of a topographic survey of the site and the surrounding area, using data on the depth of groundwater, on the structure of the upper soil layer and underlying horizons. The designer must be informed about further plans for the development of the territory - the location of new buildings, reservoirs, and capitally paved areas.
The main link of the drainage system is channels collecting water. They are open and underground. Open ones are ordinary ditches. They are considered dangerous, take up a lot of space and spoil the view of the site. In addition, they have to be constantly cleaned and strengthened along the perimeter of the wall. For the device of closed drainage, drains (drainage pipes) made of polyethylene (HDPE, PVD), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are usually used. The drains are quite light, thanks to the corrugation they are flexible. At the same time, they are quite durable, which facilitates transportation and installation. Drainage pipes are single-walled and double-walled. Double-walled with smooth inside drains are considered more durable, and in addition, they are less clogged.
Modern pipes are often sold wrapped in filter materials. Geotextiles are suitable for peat, sandy and sandy soils, while for clays and loams, coconut fiber is preferable. For dehumidification suburban areas drains with a diameter of 50-200 mm are used, but weaving is considered the most common diameter. The length of the pipes is 25-100 m, they are sold and transported rolled into coils. During laying, pieces of the desired length are sawn off with a hacksaw, forming the required segment. And the drains are connected to each other using couplings or fittings. More durable, rigid types of drainage pipes can be found on sale. They are used for laying at great depths. On the Russian market drains and other elements of drainage systems of domestic and foreign production are presented. The range of prices for drainage pipes is significant - from 35 to 680 rubles / m. The cost depends on the type of material, the selected diameter, the presence of a protective cover, stiffeners.
The standard drainage system is based on a herringbone pattern, where the “branches” are numerous side drains that collect water throughout the territory, and the “trunk” is the main pipe through which all unnecessary water enters the drainage well or is removed from the site. Tracing features, quantity, diameter, slope and depth of drainage conductors are calculated individually for each section. For example, in a farmstead located in the middle part of a slope, sometimes it is enough to intercept the surface runoff of melt and rain water. To do this, ditches or shallow drains are laid across the slope: the first - in the upper part of the allotment, the rest - below. The channels are located with a slope to the drain, which runs along the slope and drains the water collected from the site below. Side drains are often made thinner than the main (central) - they are attached to the main outlet at the same or different angles. At the junction of drains, small inspection and rotary wells made of plastic or reinforced concrete forms are arranged. They are needed to maintain the system, but mainly to capture silt and sand from the water. Wells are periodically inspected and cleaned. In addition, drainage is washed through them with a strong pressure of water.
TECHNOLOGY OF WORKS
When draining suburban areas, drainage pipes are buried at a level of 0.8-2.5 m. Excavation, associated with the drainage, it is most convenient to carry out in the summer during the seasonal lowering of the groundwater level. Drainage, even if the pipes are in a protective cover, must be insured against clogging with the help of filter layers made of sand, crushed stone or gravel. A layer of sand is poured at the bottom of the trench, then crushed stone is laid on top of the crushed stone drainage pipe and crushed stone is poured again, above - sand and vegetable soil. Ideally upper layer sand is separated from the underlying layer of crushed stone with geotextiles. Another version of the device drainage channel- the use of pipes without winding, but then the entire contents of the ditch (drain and surrounding layers of crushed stone and sand) are enclosed in a geotextile pipe. By the same principle, but without drain and sand, only with rubble, soft drainage is arranged. The bottom of the trench with a small entry to the side walls is laid out with a tecton or other material that does not rot and does not allow water to pass through. Before backfilling the crushed stone, the bottom of the wall of the ditch is lined with geotextile, then the crushed stone is covered over the top with the free edges of the overlapping material. It turns out something like a geotextile pipe filled with crushed stone. This type of drainage is called soft and is not used under paving, and especially under driveways.
DRAINAGE WELL
The water collected from the entire territory is discharged into a roadside ditch, the nearest ravine, a fire pond or a drainage well located at the lowest point of the site. The standard volume of the drainage well should be 2-3 cubic meters. m at a depth of 2 m. In spacious and heavily swamped areas, the drainage well is made more spacious or several containers are arranged at different ends of the estate. If possible, water is pumped into the village drainage, located nearby, but above the level of the site. If the collected water is planned to be used for irrigation in the future, then the walls of the drainage well must be made waterproof. This type of drainage well is called a water intake and is covered with a solid lid. Another type of drainage well is water absorption. It is made with a permeable bottom. The base of the well is covered with broken bricks, rubble stone or large granite rubble, geotextiles are laid on top, then sand and earth are poured. The water accumulated in drainage well per spring period or after heavy rains, slowly seeps through the bottom into the lower layers of the soil.
I did not have to meet pumping systems in our gardens. Maybe you yourself will think about such devices. I'll tell you another trick how to revive the most dead marshy soil and make it suitable not only for a vegetable garden, but also for a good berry garden.
This technique is simple: if it is impossible to divert groundwater that lies close to the surface, then, probably, we should try to raise the soil, the earth, above the groundwater.
Raising garden beds above damp soil is not very difficult. The easiest way is to collect the earth for a garden bed on four sides with a slide and do not overlay this hill-bed with anything so that excess dampness does not accumulate in it (the bed is covered with the same boards on four sides in the case when a fertile layer is built up over infertile soil, but the soil is not waterlogged). Such a bed-slide makes it possible to raise the plant above groundwater by fifteen to twenty centimeters.
It is possible to raise the soil above groundwater with the help of a branch “mattress” base. In this case, in the area where it is supposed to arrange beds for vegetables, the branches are lined with a fairly dense layer. The height of such branch litter can reach thirty centimeters. The earth is laid out on the branch litter: first, the less fertile part of the soil, then the more fertile. Such a bed on a branch "mattress" - the base should be allowed to lie down, then the top layer of the bed is still growing. After your bed has settled down, you can start planting vegetables.
Such beds on a branch "mattress" do not require any special care. If they settle, then the upper fertile layer grows. As the “mattress” base is destroyed, the beds are repaired: the old “mattress” is replaced with a new one or new branches are laid on the old one. When there is something to create a fertile layer at hand, they do it even easier: a new branch “mattress” is laid directly on top of the old beds, and new fertile land is placed on it.
So your beds on the branch base will gradually rise and rise. So your entire area where you grow vegetables will gradually rise.
Such areas "raised" above groundwater are most often found in logging villages in Karelia. These settlements often stood on damp, low places, and without human help, such swampy soils could not bring a harvest. But not so much time passed, and now, on the site of the former dead swamps, wonderful vegetable gardens were already rising, where every garden vegetable was growing with might and main. And there, on the ground raised above the water in the manner described above, berry bushes also began to grow.
Only selected crops grow well on too wet soil. Therefore, many are wondering: how to drain a swampy land?
Stagnant water in the soil often appears due to the features of the relief, heavy clay-peat soil and the close occurrence of groundwater. Also, the cause of wet land can be the lack of runoff and numerous pits in which rain and melt water accumulate. In this case, the site becomes damp mainly in early spring, as well as in summer during prolonged rains.
If reeds, calamus, wild rosemary, lingonberries, cranberries and mosses grow on your site, then this area has very wet soil.
If you do not need to plant vegetables on the site, then at this place you can organize a pond and plant ornamental plants. Otherwise, this area needs to be corrected.
Add soil
If the water does not stagnate in the entire area, but in separate "islands", this problem can be solved by leveling the terrain and filling the pits with dry and light soil. In this case, it is desirable to make a bias to the side drainage ditch into which the water will flow.
Build a drainage system
Provides drainage and redistribution of fluid in the area. In the natural environment, excess fluid leaves through sandy and loose soil, along the channels of streams and rivers. But if the soil on the site is too heavy, you need to make drainage.
The main task is to create voids and slopes that will facilitate the flow of fluid in the required direction. A part of the drainage system will be ditches dug along roads and between sites; a well (the liquid collected in it is convenient to use for watering plants); well-groomed reservoir (it will not only collect water, but also decorate your site). In addition, the drainage system, consisting of pipes with holes for collecting water, can be hidden in the ground to preserve the decorativeness of the site.
Drainage grooves can be arranged along the paths or around the perimeter of the flower garden. Holes 15-20 cm wide, lined with pebbles, also look great. They are also an element of decor and serve to drain rainwater.
Plant moisture-absorbing plants
You are unlikely to be able to negotiate with the heavenly office so that it supplies your site with less rainfall. It is much more efficient to plant plants that absorb moisture. Some trees and shrubs absorb a lot of water from the soil and actively evaporate it through their leaves. Such plants will help drain the wetland. 
A wet area is not always a bad thing. If in the country you enjoy the beauty of nature, and do not work in the beds, then you can do without draining the territory. Plant in the area moisture-loving plants(iris, fern, bathing suit, rhododendron, spirea), build a reservoir, set up an attractive garden with various types mosses. And to make it convenient for you to walk around your possessions, and your feet remain dry, arrange raised paths.