When facing saturated soil and continuous heavy rainfall, what do you do when standing water occurs on your property?
The problem of standing water (urban flooding) is very common across our northwest suburban, greater Chicagoland area.
Larger and larger residential buildings, occupy smaller and smaller parcels of land, which translates into huge amounts of storm water shedding-off impervious roof tops and paved areas. With less water absorbing surfaces available (lawn areas, gardens, forests, etc.), fast accumulating excess water runoff will eventually pool, over-flowing rapidly toward a nearby low-graded area, creating a standing water (ponding) situation.
If you happen to be the unlucky property owner, found to be situated on the lowest topographical site in your immediate area, the excess runoff water generated from every surrounding high-grade property, is sadly, heading your way.
We have discovered that there are only a few ways to effectively manage excess storm water, especially when routine ponding/flooding occurs on a residential site (in particular).
Here are a few steps to begin the process of managing storm water at your property.
First, contact your local government and provide pictures and detailed history (if available) as to how routine flooding has become a serious problem for you and your property.
Inquire if any municipal-level flood control projects are in the works.
Locate any/all nearby storm sewer inlet points. If one exists, be sure to keep surface debris off of inlet grate cover.
If no municipal storm sewer inlet exists in the immediate vicinity, contact your local government to see if one can be installed at/near your property.
If a municipal storm sewer inlet is not available for any reason, consider on-site flood water relocation and/or underground water retention (if possible).
Lastly, if excess run-off water/flooding occurs and there is no financially feasible solution available, consider the creation of a water friendly landscape. Dedicate a portion of your property as a so-called wetland, install water loving plants, use raised soil berms to direct/contain excess water, conceal dedicated "wet area" with adjacent live screens (hedges, tall evergreens,, etc. - if possible) and/or other sizeable structures.
As you can see, there is no quick-fix to solve a serious standing water problem. Any possible solution involves time, in many cases a large financial investment and the participation of many local qualified professionals to achieve the drainage improvement goal at hand. Please contact Pacocha Landscaping Services, Inc. with any questions or landscape improvement projects needed at your property. Thank you for visiting our site and have a great day!
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