posted by Dana Little on 09/07/07

Going Underground – Or How Installing a Perforated 4” Pipe Can Help Taylor Pond’s Water Quality

 by Anne Goorhuis

Gutters. Many people like them. They keep rain from falling on your head as you enter the house. Your newspaper and groceries enter unscathed during the worst weather events. Gutters can carry water away from the foundation of your home, keeping basements dry. Furthermore, they give you something to clean out on those brisk, sunny-skied October days, when you’re dying to escape the monotony of the Sunday afternoon football game.

For those of us within shouting distance of the pond, however, gutters can spell a problem, an erosion problem. And as we all know, erosion washes soil to the lake, soil carries with it phosphorus, and too much phosphorus can lead to algal blooms. If the water exiting the gutter spout is not dealt with appropriately, a thunderstorm can lead to a thunderous amount of soil being washed out and carried downstream. Downstream means to the lake. Yikes! We don’t want that!

So, we are left to ponder which is more important, water quality or a dry basement. This is the stuff marital disagreements are made of. This is why our family decided to dig a 35 foot long, gently-sloping trench (tilted away from the foundation, naturally) which was 15 inches deep. We lined it with crushed rock and placed a perforated 4” pipe in it. This pipe is connected to the end of the gutter spout. A little more crushed rock, a blanket of landscape fabric, top soil, squares of sod and Voila! the project was completed.

Finally! Those nasty, soil-carrying raindrops are properly handled. They are now diverted underground, and allowed to seep out of the perforated pipe through the many holes designed for that very purpose. As the rain leaves the perforated pipe, the crushed rock allows even more water to be stored (because of the spaces between each piece of crushed rock) while it is absorbed by the soil. To get to the lake now, the rain water moves s-l-o-w-l-y, allowing time for the roots of grasses, bushes and trees to absorb it. (The bigger the plant, the thirstier.) The natural vegetative buffer along the lakefront does its work and takes a long, satisfying drink. No top soil is washed to the lake by a quickly moving, narrowly focused flume of water.

The results were satisfying, but truthfully, the work was labor intensive. “Hey!” I rationalized, “Why bother to go to the gym to work out? I’ll save money and work out at home!” I was comforted by the fact that a friend on the lake had installed such a system eight years ago. The 75’ of pipe she buried has not needed any maintenance. It handles the storm water off her extensive roof with apparent ease. Her sole complaint is that occasionally, after an especially intensive storm, the ground at the very end of the pipe is mushy for a day or two. I decided I deserved a maintenance free system too. I would do it right from the start.

I’ll admit it, I was lazy. I didn’t want to dig a 75’ trench. I would dig half that length, buy a $5 “Y” and lay two lengths of perforated pipe side by side with crushed rock in between and underneath. I also used a tarp under the displaced dirt to make final cleanup easier. A tarp over the displaced dirt kept any periods of rain from displacing soil and carrying it lake-ward.

I was also cheap. I used a flat-edged shovel to create squares of sod, so I could lift and reuse them at the project’s completion. I shoveled and hauled my own crushed rock in five gallon buckets, purchased for 75 cents a bucket from Gagne & Sons in Auburn. The small expense of landscape fabric was an investment because it would keep topsoil from sinking in between the crushed rock. (Water is supposed to go there, remember?)  A small bag of grass seed and a bale of straw to spread over the project during the winter months until grass growing season returned were also good investments.

All told, laying the perforated pipe was not expensive, as home improvement projects go. Now we have the satisfaction of knowing our property is more “lake smart”. It handled April’s rain storm easily. Furthermore, my husband and I have spared ourselves many a future touchy moment. Just think of it as similar to buying a his tube and a her tube of toothpaste.