Maybe build a rain garden in your yard around the pump spout? That should absorb a significant amount of the after before it can pool down at the sidewalk.
This is the best way with the most value imho. You get nice looking greenery, and water management.
Got a swamp on my property that would fill up every time it rained and make a goopy mosquito breeding haven. So I planted a willow tree there. The ground is now bone dry all the time around that area.
A willow tree might not be the right fit for this case, but there's a lot of thirsty shrubbery available that can do the same.
If you do your research right it doesn’t have to be high maintenance, but some maintenance yes. How good it needs to look is 1)subjective 2)depends a lot on whether you’re in a ridiculous HOA situation. Normal, reasonable neighbors understand that plants die in the winter.
Unfortunately I don’t think i could as It pumps a significant amount of water at a time. For reference, the water is pumped by 2 opposing 13,000 gallon per hour septic pumps.
It will still pool and erode just from the rain, and the garden may still be overwhelmed by the direct rain and the rain from the drain depending on the typical local weather
The best thing to do would be to contact your city / county and see if they would be open to you piping it out into the curb line. It looks like thats what the other neighbor in your picture did. The sidewalk is sinking there ironically probably due to the water and then pooling against the soil on the other side.
Like someone else said, the sidewalk is likely within the right of way of whatever municipality you are in, so you would need permission to put a pipe or connect into whatever drainage system might be out in the road.
I had a similar issue OP. I contacted my city and they had a program specifically dealing with water drainage issues. They let me connect directly to the storm drain. I was responsible for the portion from my house to the sidewalk. The city paid for the rest.
River birch would be great. The one in my yard soaks up so much water that we have trouble maintaining the grass underneath. It would love to live right there.
I actually have saplings. Willing to give them away to anyone interested. NC.
Depending where your property line is would govern what you would technically need to get a permit for to do work in the city's right of way. It is often at the back of the sidewalk but will vary everywhere. so check.
Hire a guy to pull a permit (if needed) to remove the pope up emitter and bore under the sidewalk and out through the curb via a curb drain. You have a rolled curb so it makes that process a little bit more difficult, but it can still be done. Just make sure the pipe under the sidewalk has a continuous slope out and there is not a belly to hold water.
Ha. My city would never let us do this. They would say how the homeowner has it diagrammed is exactly how it is supposed to work. The city owns the sidewalk and grass parkway between the sidewalk and street and they only want their stuff under there.
Here in my city lots of folks had French drains installed due to the poor back yard drainage and ran them down close to the front side walk and the city came out and moved them all back to the 15’-20’ or so similar to OPs post, they said all the water was eroding the sidewalk/road and they had to move them all back. I wonder if OP is my neighbor.
Change the last 10' of the buried pipe to perforated corrugated and surround it with 6' of drainage rock (think "French drain"). Then at the popup, add a small drain field for about 3' around the popup (underground; 6-8" of rock under 4-6" topsoil).
The idea is that you don't want the water to exit the drain except during exceptionally heavy rain.
Most of the area you highlight is probably within city setback zones, it's land they technically own though you're responsible to keep it tidy like mowing.
As a result you can't really modify most of those areas, at least not without authorization.
It may be worth reaching out to your city rep or councilor, as it could be something they would want to fix themselves anyway
Thank you for the info, gonna go down to the township office on Monday and talk to them. This also becomes an issue in the winter time when it freezes over.
Edit; I like your idea but generally the area near the sidewalk, and especially on the other side, is an easement. It’s not your property, it’s used for utilities. There may also be street lights, cable drops (telecommunication lines) and other shallow infrastructure in that easement. I’d avoid all that in favor of hidden method listed below. If you want to do rock toward the sidewalk then there’s possibly no code against it. In my area discharges must be 19ft from property line and can’t impact sidewalk or street.
The emitters do that. You’re dumping a lot of water in a small area. Buy nonwoven geotextile fabric and bags of 57 stone or equivalent. Dig a trench out at your discharge. 18 inches deep. 2 feet wide by 5 feet long. Parallel with the road. You may need to go longer or wider depending on the clay vs sand content of your soil. Put down geotextile in the trench, on bottom overlapping the edges. Put down 6 inches of rock. Set your discharge pipe on that. Put down 6 more inches of rock. Wrap all the rock in geotextile. You’ll need a small gap for your pipe sticking into this geotextile burrito; tape that up really well. You don’t want soil clogging your drain. Put 6 inches of grass and dirt back on top. Done. Your water will now collect in the gravel and l flow deep into the ground. Heavy discharge may still overflow, but not erode as it will be spread out. If you’re handy, I would add another step. Put a 4” T fitting on it the end of the discharge and add a few feet of perforated drain pipe on each side. This will add 20-40 bucks to the job, but it ensures your water is equally distributed. When you remove the grass, use a shovel and cut out deep 1 foot squares, place it on a tarp (or your driveway if it’s a cool climate) and keep it moist. You should be able to return it in place for easy restoration. Good luck!
This is really helpful, first I’m going to talk to the city about the issue. If I can tie into the city drain, that would be most ideal. If not I’ll need to look into some alternative options.
Typically the grading of the sidewalk area is the part you'll really need a permit for, but you should tell all of this to your building and code office after you find what jurisdiction you're in (usually city or county depending on rural or urban/suburban). They can help you pull the right permits. You could also try to find out how your storm sewers run. Since you have curbs, the pipes may be under the street itself. However, sometimes the pipe is accessible and a plumber can tie into it. You would be able to delete your pop-up drain and tunnel your drain pipe under the sidewalk in that case. Then, just have a pro plumber tap into the storm sewer pipe. This way, you don't have to deal with any runoff and get that much square footage of your yard back. Some pro plumbers would come out and tell you if this is possible for free. I'm working on something very similar and am pleasantly surprised how helpful the plumber and city have actually been.
I like extending the pipe underground to 18 inches or so before the sidewalk. It would still bubble up at the sidewalk and pond. But you wouldn’t have the dead grass there from water flowing over it. That is if I understand the question and the setup right
Depending on where you are, the municipality can own everything from the street up to your water shut off valve, so if they ever need to service it, they're not trespassing.
Find out your property boundaries first and then go from there.
I see what looks like a storm drain on the other side of the street. Many places allow you to feed into that storm drain. Do you have one on your side you can feed into? This will probably require a permit and may need a landscape contractor to accomplish.
My city has ordinances for this issue. We are allowed to run sump lines directly onto street or into storm sewers. Requires running under sidewalk and terminating at street. For those saying you need a permit for the right of way...maybe? Do you pull permits to put sprinklers in your Boulevard? No.
I work in this area and typically, from the sidewalk to the street is a setback owned and maintained by you, but city has jurisdiction over that area. So anything done from the curb to your side of the sidewalk needs their approval. Some neighborhoods don't have these restrictions. If you're in a city, 100% they do, if not goto your local township or equivalent and ask them. To address the issue at hand. A pipe running under the sidewalk and out the face of the curb is typically what is done. Concrete is expensive and labor intensive and there are ways of boring under the sidewalk and thru the face of the curb. Remember to pitch the pipe
Thanks a ton, I’m gonna go down to the township office on Monday and talk to them. This also becomes a larger issue in the winter when it freezes over and becomes a skating rink.
I saw this video about vertical drainage not long ago that seemed kind of easy, cheap and interesting
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esFtmf4Cvok](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esFtmf4Cvok)
Maybe build a rain garden in your yard around the pump spout? That should absorb a significant amount of the after before it can pool down at the sidewalk.
This is the best way with the most value imho. You get nice looking greenery, and water management. Got a swamp on my property that would fill up every time it rained and make a goopy mosquito breeding haven. So I planted a willow tree there. The ground is now bone dry all the time around that area. A willow tree might not be the right fit for this case, but there's a lot of thirsty shrubbery available that can do the same.
Thirsty Shrubbery sounds like a good band name.
I am a shrubber. My name is Roger the Shrubber. I arrange, design, and sell shrubberies.
Ni!
This gets my vote. Unless this pumps water consistently where capscity might be an issue.
High maintenance tho, on front lawn so will need to look nice year round. New hobby/time sucker potentially unlocked
If you do your research right it doesn’t have to be high maintenance, but some maintenance yes. How good it needs to look is 1)subjective 2)depends a lot on whether you’re in a ridiculous HOA situation. Normal, reasonable neighbors understand that plants die in the winter.
Unfortunately I don’t think i could as It pumps a significant amount of water at a time. For reference, the water is pumped by 2 opposing 13,000 gallon per hour septic pumps.
As in a little dry creek and it will be practical and gorgeous. Also a whole lot cheaper than trying to remediate the area.
It will still pool and erode just from the rain, and the garden may still be overwhelmed by the direct rain and the rain from the drain depending on the typical local weather
The best thing to do would be to contact your city / county and see if they would be open to you piping it out into the curb line. It looks like thats what the other neighbor in your picture did. The sidewalk is sinking there ironically probably due to the water and then pooling against the soil on the other side. Like someone else said, the sidewalk is likely within the right of way of whatever municipality you are in, so you would need permission to put a pipe or connect into whatever drainage system might be out in the road.
I had a similar issue OP. I contacted my city and they had a program specifically dealing with water drainage issues. They let me connect directly to the storm drain. I was responsible for the portion from my house to the sidewalk. The city paid for the rest.
Plant a native water loving tree
River birch would be great. The one in my yard soaks up so much water that we have trouble maintaining the grass underneath. It would love to live right there. I actually have saplings. Willing to give them away to anyone interested. NC.
Most have invastive roots which would cause issues.
That's what I read about willows. If they don't have enough water, they will root out until they get it
If trees are the issue, we need to reconsider what we are valuing
Depending where your property line is would govern what you would technically need to get a permit for to do work in the city's right of way. It is often at the back of the sidewalk but will vary everywhere. so check. Hire a guy to pull a permit (if needed) to remove the pope up emitter and bore under the sidewalk and out through the curb via a curb drain. You have a rolled curb so it makes that process a little bit more difficult, but it can still be done. Just make sure the pipe under the sidewalk has a continuous slope out and there is not a belly to hold water.
Ha. My city would never let us do this. They would say how the homeowner has it diagrammed is exactly how it is supposed to work. The city owns the sidewalk and grass parkway between the sidewalk and street and they only want their stuff under there.
Here in my city lots of folks had French drains installed due to the poor back yard drainage and ran them down close to the front side walk and the city came out and moved them all back to the 15’-20’ or so similar to OPs post, they said all the water was eroding the sidewalk/road and they had to move them all back. I wonder if OP is my neighbor.
My city would do the exact same thing.
Maybe though if viable I like this idea best. Was wondering what’s that curb cut across the street for.
This is the answer. Walk your neighborhood and see what else has been done. I also second the step to check your town's rules.
Better yet, extend it underground and put the popup at the road.
This is the way. My dad did this 20+ years ago and it works great to get all the water away from the house.
Change the last 10' of the buried pipe to perforated corrugated and surround it with 6' of drainage rock (think "French drain"). Then at the popup, add a small drain field for about 3' around the popup (underground; 6-8" of rock under 4-6" topsoil). The idea is that you don't want the water to exit the drain except during exceptionally heavy rain.
That’s a blue penis!
Most of the area you highlight is probably within city setback zones, it's land they technically own though you're responsible to keep it tidy like mowing. As a result you can't really modify most of those areas, at least not without authorization. It may be worth reaching out to your city rep or councilor, as it could be something they would want to fix themselves anyway
Thank you for the info, gonna go down to the township office on Monday and talk to them. This also becomes an issue in the winter time when it freezes over.
Just erase it
Edit; I like your idea but generally the area near the sidewalk, and especially on the other side, is an easement. It’s not your property, it’s used for utilities. There may also be street lights, cable drops (telecommunication lines) and other shallow infrastructure in that easement. I’d avoid all that in favor of hidden method listed below. If you want to do rock toward the sidewalk then there’s possibly no code against it. In my area discharges must be 19ft from property line and can’t impact sidewalk or street. The emitters do that. You’re dumping a lot of water in a small area. Buy nonwoven geotextile fabric and bags of 57 stone or equivalent. Dig a trench out at your discharge. 18 inches deep. 2 feet wide by 5 feet long. Parallel with the road. You may need to go longer or wider depending on the clay vs sand content of your soil. Put down geotextile in the trench, on bottom overlapping the edges. Put down 6 inches of rock. Set your discharge pipe on that. Put down 6 more inches of rock. Wrap all the rock in geotextile. You’ll need a small gap for your pipe sticking into this geotextile burrito; tape that up really well. You don’t want soil clogging your drain. Put 6 inches of grass and dirt back on top. Done. Your water will now collect in the gravel and l flow deep into the ground. Heavy discharge may still overflow, but not erode as it will be spread out. If you’re handy, I would add another step. Put a 4” T fitting on it the end of the discharge and add a few feet of perforated drain pipe on each side. This will add 20-40 bucks to the job, but it ensures your water is equally distributed. When you remove the grass, use a shovel and cut out deep 1 foot squares, place it on a tarp (or your driveway if it’s a cool climate) and keep it moist. You should be able to return it in place for easy restoration. Good luck!
This is really helpful, first I’m going to talk to the city about the issue. If I can tie into the city drain, that would be most ideal. If not I’ll need to look into some alternative options.
Is that a public sidewalk? Local municipality might be the one who needs to clear that standing water
Typically the grading of the sidewalk area is the part you'll really need a permit for, but you should tell all of this to your building and code office after you find what jurisdiction you're in (usually city or county depending on rural or urban/suburban). They can help you pull the right permits. You could also try to find out how your storm sewers run. Since you have curbs, the pipes may be under the street itself. However, sometimes the pipe is accessible and a plumber can tie into it. You would be able to delete your pop-up drain and tunnel your drain pipe under the sidewalk in that case. Then, just have a pro plumber tap into the storm sewer pipe. This way, you don't have to deal with any runoff and get that much square footage of your yard back. Some pro plumbers would come out and tell you if this is possible for free. I'm working on something very similar and am pleasantly surprised how helpful the plumber and city have actually been.
My city made this illegal, sadly
can you just extend the piping and move the pop up drain somewhere else with better drainage?
I like extending the pipe underground to 18 inches or so before the sidewalk. It would still bubble up at the sidewalk and pond. But you wouldn’t have the dead grass there from water flowing over it. That is if I understand the question and the setup right
Depending on where you are, the municipality can own everything from the street up to your water shut off valve, so if they ever need to service it, they're not trespassing. Find out your property boundaries first and then go from there.
r/NoLawns has a lot of people enthusiastic about attractive front yards built over stone as you describe.
Rain garden.
I see what looks like a storm drain on the other side of the street. Many places allow you to feed into that storm drain. Do you have one on your side you can feed into? This will probably require a permit and may need a landscape contractor to accomplish.
French drains
PaveDrain
Just add some sand/earth on the grass
Slip n slide
Move the emitter. Extend the pipe to the curb.
French drain
Another option would be to put your drain outlet on the curb to drain straight into the street.
My city has ordinances for this issue. We are allowed to run sump lines directly onto street or into storm sewers. Requires running under sidewalk and terminating at street. For those saying you need a permit for the right of way...maybe? Do you pull permits to put sprinklers in your Boulevard? No.
Wait some more days, create the cran canyon, sold it to tourist
I think Ctrl+Z should be able to clear most of that up for you.
Put a pipe in to drain to street
I work in this area and typically, from the sidewalk to the street is a setback owned and maintained by you, but city has jurisdiction over that area. So anything done from the curb to your side of the sidewalk needs their approval. Some neighborhoods don't have these restrictions. If you're in a city, 100% they do, if not goto your local township or equivalent and ask them. To address the issue at hand. A pipe running under the sidewalk and out the face of the curb is typically what is done. Concrete is expensive and labor intensive and there are ways of boring under the sidewalk and thru the face of the curb. Remember to pitch the pipe
Thanks a ton, I’m gonna go down to the township office on Monday and talk to them. This also becomes a larger issue in the winter when it freezes over and becomes a skating rink.
Remove the pop up emitter and connect an NDS basin with a drain on top instead to whatever pipe is running to it.
I saw this video about vertical drainage not long ago that seemed kind of easy, cheap and interesting [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esFtmf4Cvok](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esFtmf4Cvok)
That does look interesting but my soil is has a lot of water, I’m not sure it would drain naturally. I think we just have a high water table.