Dealing with Stormwater: The Dangers of No Drainage

September 23, 2014

Not every drop of water that falls from the sky ends up seeping into the ground and re-hydrating plants and the soil. Sometimes it runs off the ground, creating a threat to water quality and the environment. You see, rain doesn’t always do well with manmade ecosystems like the suburbs and urban spaces covered in concrete and brick. Consequently, rather than being absorbed into the ground, the water simply pools, finding the path of least resistance. This can create a rush of water not unlike a flood or a small creek suddenly forming, and this is a fairly dangerous situation. Additionally, water that pools in this manner can form a dangerous pool of standing water, which breeds disease and other unpleasantries, while also being incredibly unsightly and holding chemicals and other substances that the water picked up on the way, as it does!

How to Handle Stormwater

When you identify a lot to build your home on, stormwater runoff is something that you’ll have to consider. How are you going to deal with it? The truth is, handling and preventing excessive stormwater runoff is rather simple and straight-forward; there are several time-tested techniques for dealing with the matter.

Preventative Measures

First, you should make sure that you have as little in the way of impervious surfaces on your property as possible. This means that you should provide plenty of opportunities for rain to be absorbed by the ground wherever it falls. The more concrete you’re working with, the less likely this is to happen, so be sparing with your placement of stone and concrete! What impervious terrain you do have should be lined with gravel trenches, and you should provide plenty of water drains off your roof and away from impervious terrain.

Ensure that soil isn’t exposed, feed that soil with organic matter, and replace your lawn areas with native plants, and you’ll see a definite change in how stormwater drains off your property! In fact, you probably won’t see much of that stormwater at all in the future!