In NE Kansas, we do not get “April showers bring May flowers”. We get May and June thunderstorms that dump several inches of rain at one time, cutting gullies in the dirt and washing away soil.
I have a quarter mile driveway that slopes down to the West. These rain storms have cut a foot deep dropoff on one side in the curve of the driveway. Much of my driveway gravel has washed out into the road, to the point where I cannot close the gate at the bottom of my driveway.
I have a drainage culvert with a pipe going under the driveway. What gives?
Water Management – Look to History
While looking at historical views of my property, my water challenges became more apparent.
I used HistoricAerials.com to see my property all the way back to 1948. (You can also use the slider in Google Earth to see historical pictures, although they are not as pronounced).
My house was built in 1986. In the 1948 view, there is a deep creek running diagonally, right down the middle of my property. It is much larger than the current small draw that runs into the shallow drainage culvert and pipe running under the driveway.
Flash forward to 1970 and the field was smoothed over for farming. They have created some terracing in the field. The creek was filled in and is now a draw, and there was a pond created near the road. You can still see the water flow patterns.
In the 1991 view, my house and the driveway are now present. The highway must have been expanded. Now the creek and pond are even less pronounced.
The pond is increasingly filled in on the more recent pictures and is now a shallow swampy area. The green zone is the remaining drainage area, a very shallow creek.
Lessons Learned
Lesson learned: Water still wants to run down the draw between these two hills. Larger rain events will continue to cut deeper into the hillside. In addition, the driveway is like a giant roof, collecting water and funneling the water down the driveway rather than into the drainage areas. (I could use the roof water calculations from permaculture class to estimate how much water is running off the driveway).
I would like to have the driveway run into the culvert or into swales along the driveway. But that would likely wash away more gravel from the driveway, instead into the grass and swale system in the process.
Although I have not “solved” the problem yet, this gives me tools to have a better idea on the problem.
What recommendations would you give to solve this problem?
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