Aquifer

 

Our home sits on clay; Five foot of topsoil was removed and it was placed where the hospital below us sits. The hospital sat next to a creak and the added soil filled and leveled the area where the hospital sits. The land was stepped with plateaus  (areas where each home sat).

Our home siits on the five foot of clay and under the clay is an aquifer. When we moved here we did not know it but when it rained hard our land filled with water and then drained very quickly. In some places in our yard you can hear water running when you stand over a crawdad hole. Our neighbor built a berm between our homes to keep the draining water away from his home. A pond forms between our homes. I put a large drainage pipe in the pond to make the water flow toward a creek nearby.  The drain pipe keeps the area from creating a pond.  I mow the area in a certain way and it keeps the water flowing to a creek below. At first I created ruts with my mower wheels and the water flowed in the ruts to the creek. Now that the ground has hardened the ruts are now level ground where the water flows when it rains, toward the creek. Now our yard drains quickly. I also put drain pipes around our home which move the water when it rains toward the creek. The water below the clay is always full.

Our pool sits my old garden spot behind our home and it sits on the clay over the aquifer. Ten foot beside and below our pool there is a water table; I may put a pump down there and use that water to fill the pool. I have seen it flow and it flows crystal clear. By experience I have seen water at 8 feet when I dig a hole. Down by the creek it is 4 feet.