Today we've had one, a real drencher. It's been really wet for the past
few days. (three to five inches of rain per day) My house sits in a
hollow that, up until four years ago when I began the excavation,
drained about five acres in an amphitheater configuration. During
excavation I pushed up a small dam just outside the house (thirty-forty
feet away) to collect runoff water and another, quite a bit larger dam
outside the basement entrance (again, thirty/forty feet away) which is
to be a/big/ garden pond in the unforseeable future. Until this week
both dammed areas have been empty or almost empty all the time. This
morning I noticed that the upper dam was running over. The bottom dam
was almost full. As I watched, the overflow from the uper dam filled the
lower dam(which has a four inch drain that ends in an upflow pipebelow
the dam) to overflowing, rushed into this drain, and started shooting up
from the upflow pipe below the dam with enough force to fire a four inch
column of water three feet high above the pipe. It made the prettiest
bell fountain I've ever seen!
Of course, all this water flowing in a fairly small area has cut some
pretty drastic ditches right where I /didn't/ want them to be.
Oh, well, it looks like bobcat day tomorrow. (if it doesn't rain
again!)

Cybe R. Wizard
--
Unofficial "Wizard of Odds," A.H.P.
Original PORG "Water Wizard," R.P.
"Wize(ned) Wizard," A.P.F-P-Y.
Barely Tolerated Wizard, A.J.L & A.A.L

What happens to your house if both dams fail? Are you up or down grade from
them?



"Cybe R. Wizard" wrote in message
news:20030613145526.22dd76b1.cyber_wizard@mindspri ng.com...
Today we've had one, a real drencher. It's been really wet for the past
few days. (three to five inches of rain per day) My house sits in a
hollow that, up until four years ago when I began the excavation,
drained about five acres in an amphitheater configuration. During
excavation I pushed up a small dam just outside the house (thirty-forty
feet away) to collect runoff water and another, quite a bit larger dam
outside the basement entrance (again, thirty/forty feet away) which is
to be a/big/ garden pond in the unforseeable future. Until this week
both dammed areas have been empty or almost empty all the time. This
morning I noticed that the upper dam was running over. The bottom dam
was almost full. As I watched, the overflow from the uper dam filled the
lower dam(which has a four inch drain that ends in an upflow pipebelow
the dam) to overflowing, rushed into this drain, and started shooting up
from the upflow pipe below the dam with enough force to fire a four inch
column of water three feet high above the pipe. It made the prettiest
bell fountain I've ever seen!
Of course, all this water flowing in a fairly small area has cut some
pretty drastic ditches right where I /didn't/ want them to be.
Oh, well, it looks like bobcat day tomorrow. (if it doesn't rain
again!)

Cybe R. Wizard
--
Unofficial "Wizard of Odds," A.H.P.
Original PORG "Water Wizard," R.P.
"Wize(ned) Wizard," A.P.F-P-Y.
Barely Tolerated Wizard, A.J.L & A.A.L

Cybe R. Wizard wrote:
Today we've had one, a real drencher ... This
morning I noticed that the upper dam was running over. The bottom dam
was almost full. As I watched, the overflow from the uper dam filled the
lower dam(which has a four inch drain that ends in an upflow pipebelow
the dam) to overflowing, rushed into this drain, and started shooting up
from the upflow pipe below the dam with enough force to fire a four inch
column of water three feet high above the pipe. It made the prettiest
bell fountain I've ever seen!

Handy little DIY water feature, eh?
--
zookeeper

On Fri, 13 Jun 2003 18:07:36 -0400
"Heather" wrote:

What happens to your house if both dams fail? Are you up or down
grade from them?

Our upstairs floor is slightly over two feet upgrade from the upper dam,
the basement floor is about three feet above grade of the lower dam.
Everywhere around the house slopes away from the house at least two feet
in twenty. In rains like these we have steady streams of water flowing
around both sides of the house and into the lower dammed area (someday
I can call it a pond), but at least twenty feet away.

Cybe R. Wizard
--
Unofficial "Wizard of Odds," A.H.P.
Original PORG "Water Wizard," R.P.
"Wize(ned) Wizard," A.P.F-P-Y.
Barely Tolerated Wizard, A.J.L & A.A.L

On Fri, 13 Jun 2003 15:30:45 -0700
zookeeper wrote:

shooting up
from the upflow pipe below the dam with enough force to fire a four
inch column of water three feet high above the pipe. It made the
prettiest bell fountain I've ever seen!

Handy little DIY water feature, eh?
--
zookeeper

Sorta funny, really, 'cause three neighbors came by to watch the water.
They had seen the pipe sticking up by the driveway for the last year but
none of them have ever asked about it before. Suddenly, when water
starts shooting up from it, they are all questions. One /did/ thank me
for solving the drainage problem that has existed here for the last 15
years.
First thing I did when we bought this place was push up the two dams
just to stop the pumpkin-sized rocks from pushing out into the cove.

Cybe R. Wizard
--
Unofficial "Wizard of Odds," A.H.P.
Original PORG "Water Wizard," R.P.
"Wize(ned) Wizard," A.P.F-P-Y.
Barely Tolerated Wizard, A.J.L & A.A.L