Seasonal Creek Crossing Suggestions

[Lil Foot]

That is very professionally done sir.

Thanks, I appreciate it!
Here is the full thread in case anyone missed it.

Raising my driveway...

My place up north has always had a little water across the driveway when it rains heavily, but the county has recently re-graded the roadbeds, ditches, & culverts. We used to get runoff from a couple blocks, now it's more like 1 1/2 miles. A 16" county culvert brings all this water across my...

www.orangetractortalks.com

 

[Magicman]

Here is the full thread in case anyone missed it.

Yes, that was done before my time here, thanks for the read.

 

[MuttCat]

re: Lastly, a single squashed pipe would be preferable to dual pipes.

Please explain why ?? as 2 pipes = 2x the water flow capability

Potential for debris blockage is increased with side-by-side pipes. A large single opening is preferred, which can allow debris to pass through rather than get hung up. And if you are regulated, you will likely have to go that route anyway. Sometimes it's called pipe arch or ellipse pipe.
https://www.conteches.com/pipe/corrugated-metal-pipe/hel-cor-pipe/cmp-sizes-and-uses

 

[Magicman]

But sometime we use what we have.

 

[JimmyJazz]

Look up Missouri Crossing on YouTube. Maybe that will help in providing a solution to your dilemma .

 

[BigG]

Steel Pipes - Maximum Water Flow Capacities vs. Size

Maximum water flow capacities in steel pipes - pipe dimensions ranging <i>2 - 24 inches</i>.

www.engineeringtoolbox.com

The flow of water through pipes of different diameters is not 1:1. In other words 2 pipes at 1 foot in diameter will will allow 4700 gallons per each pipe or a total of 9400 gallons per minute. A pipe 2 feet in diameter will allow 18000 gallons per minute. The larger single pipe allows almost twice as much water to flow.

 

[DustyRusty]

There's an access path/road near our house that does this. When it's wet weather it starts to run water over the surface, and crossing with a vehicle makes a mess. My plan is to trench in a 4" abs culvert across the path. About 1/4" per foot slope. The upper end I'm going to create a small dugout/pond that the end of the pipe sits in, and put a 90 degree elbow swivel on it with a piece of pipe pointing up, cut to the height of maximum water level in the pond. The pond fills, and falls straight down the open end into the culvert and out under the backfilled path. Aerates the flowing water too.
The swivel allows for rapid draining or level control of the pond. Just tilt the vertical pipe so the open end lowers to the desired level. The pond will drain to that level and stop.
A big advantage of the vertical drain pipe is there's never a way for it to get plugged by debris. Debris just bumps against the sides of the pipe and can't fall in.
I'm planning to start within a few weeks here as soon as the ground thaws, and get the BH77 busy ponding, swaling and trenching. For too many years that seasonal stream crossing has been a mess!

A 4" ABS pipe is not going to carry much water. I would use a minimum of 12" or more. I had a 4" pipe under my road to drain a 1 acre field, and it took weeks to drain. I installed a plastic barrel surrounded with trap rock, and a whole lot of 1" holes all around the barrel. and put a 12" pipe into the plastic barrel, and trenched under the road. Now, it carries all the water that we get in the field, and the run off from other areas. I have seen the water coming into that barrel so fast that it kept that 12" pipe more than half full for a couple of days. Before I did this, I used to use a gas power trash pump to drain the barrel, and the pump would run for a day or so.

 

[DustyRusty]

Double the size of a pipe, and increase its volume by 4. Standard rule for plumbing.

 

[nbryan]

A 4" ABS pipe is not going to carry much water. I would use a minimum of 12" or more. I had a 4" pipe under my road to drain a 1 acre field, and it took weeks to drain. I installed a plastic barrel surrounded with trap rock, and a whole lot of 1" holes all around the barrel. and put a 12" pipe into the plastic barrel, and trenched under the road. Now, it carries all the water that we get in the field, and the run off from other areas. I have seen the water coming into that barrel so fast that it kept that 12" pipe more than half full for a couple of days. Before I did this, I used to use a gas power trash pump to drain the barrel, and the pump would run for a day or so.

I have watched the surface flow for over 20 years in the worst downpour conditions, and a 4" pipe will be fine to carry the excess water under the path. The pond draining into the pipe will have swales extending hundreds of feet away from it on a slight downslope, at the end of which any overflow from a full pond overwhelming the 4" pipe will flow slowly and gently down the swale and spread out harmlessly across the field.

 

[Magicman]

For a seasonal situation such as yours and the OP LarryBud's, your plan sounds workable. If it doesn't perform to suit your need, then make some adjustments. I do know that mine took care of my problem.

 

[LarryBud]

Look up Missouri Crossing on YouTube. Maybe that will help in providing a solution to your dilemma .

Thanks for the tip.

There are many places around these parts where a Missouri Crossing would be a good solution. I'm in Black Dirt country and don't have a rock on the place.

 

[LarryBud]

FYI culvert sections are usually 20' long.
If cut in half, you'll get a usable 9' wide crossing, providing you have straight on approach.
I'd probably get 2-20's, make it 4 wide.

some numbers... pretty sure they're right,other can check
1 acre is 43,560 square feet
1" of rain on 4 acres is about 14,520 cubic feet of water or 90,700+ Cdn gallons.
a 12" culvert can pass about 3/4 of a sq foot of water, so 4 sections can pass 3 cuft
each section holds about 15 cuft, so 4 hold 60cuft, so at 60cuft per minute, it'd take 242 minutes to pass all the water.
this is if all is 'runoff' (worst case)

Update: I purchased an 11' long 16" in diameter galvanized culvert for $100 off Facebook. While a little tight, an 8' crossing will do fine for my mower, tractor, ATV and the occasional pickup.

My runoff collection area is more like 2 acres per google earth. My simpleton math is as follows:

43,560 sq ft x 2 = 87120
1 " of rain is 87120 /12 = 7260 cubic ft of water. 1 cubic ft of water is 7.48 gallons
7260 x 7.48 = 54305 gallons of runoff if the entire inch hits the culvert
a 16' pipe will flow 8000 gallons per minute. I'll say a 16" culvert will do the same
a 2" rain will give me 108610 gallons. Even at 4000 gpm ( 50% flow ) It will clear the 2" in 27 minutes.

I'd sure like to install it without a backhoe. I'm hoping my FEL and a little shovel work will get the job done. I probably will rent a power compactor( jumping jack ) for compaction.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

sounds like you have a plan !!!
I'd use the loader to 'carve' a channel where the culvert will go, move material 'upstream' of the crossing,lay pipe in, then berm up the crossing. Use the upstream material to form a 'V' to encourage the water to the pipe. Be sure to face the upstream side with rocks to prevent erosion. Downstram side isn'r affected so bad ,but best to do it too. Try to get 10' wide if possible,more is better.
Post picture during construction and after the first rain.

 

[D2Cat]

Up in Edwardsville there are some 18" x 16' long culverts for sale, $200 each on FB marketplace. He has five.

 

[LarryBud]

Up in Edwardsville there are some 18" x 16' long culverts for sale, $200 each on FB marketplace. He has five.

Dang. I thought I did a pretty good search. FB Marketplace seems to skip things for me when searching. Probably operator error but I never found those. Clearly better for the job.

Now, do I eat the $100?

 

[BigG]

Dang. I thought I did a pretty good search. FB Marketplace seems to skip things for me when searching. Probably operator error but I never found those. Clearly better for the job.

Now, do I eat the $100?

Maybe you could sale it on FB.

 

[D2Cat]

I just went to FB, marketplace, typed in "culverts" in search window....

For some reason I can not copy and paste a picture from FB to here. It always says the picture to too large, I'm not sharp enough to downsize it!