Watercourse

[deuce22]

Hi.

 

I have around 50m of watercourse running through my plot. 30m will be culverted and the other 20m needs to stay open. I'm looking for ideas on the best material to line it with, rather than just a half concrete culvert. There is not a huge amount of water, so it doesn't have to be very deep or wide, but it will be on show, so I want it to be a bit of a feature.

 

Any body come across this?

 

Thanks.

[ProDave]

Yes we have a burn running right through our garden.  We love it as a feature.

 

 

Why would you want to line that with concrete?  I would not.

 

I assume you are in England?  Check with the EA what you are allowed to do.  Here in Scotland you need permission from SEPA to culvert part of a watercourse and they will usually only allow part of it to be culverted for a reason, e.g to create access. They won't normally allow it to be culverted just for "land gain"

[Russell griffiths]

We had a water easement in our house in oz, it was basically a shallow ditch that took all the rainwater from the houses up the hill, in the dry months it was empty, in rainy season it flowed like a goodun 

i scraped it out to form a shallow ditch and lined it with big 600mm rocks and smaller 300mm rocks with round pebbles in the gaps, it was a bloody masterpiece, I used to go out in the storms and move the rocks around to adjust the flow and create little catchment areas. 

 

I think it really depends on the amount of water you are talking about. 

[deuce22]

Planning have agreed for me to culvert part of it. 

 

The watercourse I have is starting behind my plot which is elevated and runs through at a higher height than my house and garage. I've had to cut out a big amount of earth to build the house and water is seeping through the ground.

 

Thanks.

 

 

[Conor]

26 minutes ago, deuce22 said:

Planning have agreed for me to culvert part of it. 

 

The watercourse I have is starting behind my plot which is elevated and runs through at a higher height than my house and garage. I've had to cut out a big amount of earth to build the house and water is seeping through the ground.

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

Having PP does not infer the right to do so. You'll have to check with EA. They will have a code of practice and design requirements for you to follow.

 

You will likely have two options. First, is to line the course so water does not deep through. Normally you'd clear the channel, line with heavy clay (forget the name, there's a specific type for lining canals) and finally a rubber membrane and stone.

Second is to leave as-is, and dig a collection drain at the base and have it connect back in to the water course further downstream if elevations allow. That would be the cheapest and easiest way, and most likely to get EA approval.

[Mike]

You could also consider installing a micro hydro turbine.

[deuce22]

I've spoken with Welsh water, NRW and the drainage engineer in planning is the one that I am dealing with. The other 2 didn't want to know.

[ProDave]

A picture would be interesing.  I would be worried about a stream higher then the house.  Where do you think it will all go when it floods?  I am glad our burn is lower than the house with the ground dropping off down the road so it has plenty of places to flood to.

[deuce22]

Mine is nothing like yours.

 

There are a few springs in the ground behind me and the water is coming from there. It was called a ditch, not watercourse from NRW and they said it was my responsibility. The engineer in planning said differently.

 

The house will be positioned where the ICF is. The water runs through a ditch behind and I have temporary culverted it, whilst I was moving earth. The whole length of the white line needs to stay open and then it will drop down into a culvert.

[ProDave]

Could you divert it to the left of the house, around the low side?  I would sleep easier with that.

[Temp]

Did the planning department impose any conditions in your Planning grant that refers to the ditch? 

 

I think I'd want something like a French drain across the back of your house diagonally to collect any water and divert it around the house to whichever side works best. 

 

How steep is the slope? It looks steep enough that there may only be a significant depth of water in it immediately after rainfall? Eg not much of a water feature? I guess the alternative might be to create a line of ponds to trap water with waterfalls between them? Perhaps also a pump to keep them going when it's dry?

 

 

 

 

[ProDave]

I presume a retaining wall is going in there?  I would want it properly tanked with a drain out at the low end.

[Temp]

If you want the culvert to be some sort of water feature you might consider hiring a landscape or pond designer to come up with some ideas. Typically pond construction uses a membrane over a sand blind and might be terraced to allow water plants to be planted in pots in the shallows at the sides. Typically paving or natural  stone is used to cover  a the edges of the membrane but there are any number of materials used including stainless steel.

[deuce22]

The back and right hand side will be retaining walls built into the house. I will have 100mm perforated pipe running around the house and it will connect into the culvert. It needs to stay on the right side as I have been granted permission to move it over 3m.