Natural spring in my yard...anyone else have this?

[Myothername]

I first noticed the water standing next to my foundation in April. I live in the south where we get a lot of rain so standing water is not unusual. Well the water never went away. So I dug a small trench about 3 inches wide to let the water run away from the foundation. The trench got longer and longer and I eventually dug a small frog pond I call it. Right now it measures about 4 x 4 and is about a foot deep. The pond stays full but it is not just water running away from the foundation. The spring appears to be in a rather large area about 20 x 20. The soil stays damp there now.


I’ve checked for water leaks and no water leaks (water meter doesn’t move even when no one is home for hours plus my water bill stays very low). It doesn’t smell so its not the septic tank which is nearby. Plus there is dryer soil between the septic system and the wet area.


Not sure what I can do with it. I am thinking of making it bigger and deeper and putting in fish. The frogs love it so it must be pretty good water. I have seen the solar water fountains which might be fun to put in to add oxygen to the water for the fish. Anyone have a spring problem or put in a small fish pond?

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

We had one at our old house. In the spring when it rained a lot it would run out of the cracks in the driveway and freak out the neighbors. The city came out and tested it a couple of times and determined both times that it was not city water (like you, no increase in water bill and it was on the opposite side of the yard as the sewer line).

The water table in our entire yard was about 12 inches below ground. Any time we needed to dig for anything we ended up with a pond or a river. We eventually french drained around the entire foundation and set it to drain at the street to keep the foundation dry. We also sunk three 55 gallon barrels in a particularly bad area to act as a dry well.

 

[Myothername]

I like the 55 gallon barrel idea. I kept thinking it would dry up but so far it hasn’t. Of course it rained almost every day this summer. But even now when it is a little bit dryer it is not going away. I’m looking at getting a pump for it and putting some fish in.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

We used to live on a farm, we had a spring-fed pond which the previous owners had significantly drained because of some issues with teenagers using it for skinny-dipping on hot summer nights, so I wouldn't recommend letting your pond get that big! We loved our little pond, it was only a couple feet deep and a 5 by 8 foot oval and we always had frogs and toads and snakes around it, my kids used to enjoy checking out the animal prints on the bank and figuring out what kinds of animals had visited recently. The only fish we ever put in the pond were mosquito fish from the local pond supply store, they didn't seem to need a bubbler or anything.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I first noticed the water standing next to my foundation in April. I live in the south where we get a lot of rain so standing water is not unusual. Well the water never went away. So I dug a small trench about 3 inches wide to let the water run away from the foundation. The trench got longer and longer and I eventually dug a small frog pond I call it. Right now it measures about 4 x 4 and is about a foot deep. The pond stays full but it is not just water running away from the foundation. The spring appears to be in a rather large area about 20 x 20. The soil stays damp there now.


I’ve checked for water leaks and no water leaks (water meter doesn’t move even when no one is home for hours plus my water bill stays very low). It doesn’t smell so its not the septic tank which is nearby. Plus there is dryer soil between the septic system and the wet area.


Not sure what I can do with it. I am thinking of making it bigger and deeper and putting in fish. The frogs love it so it must be pretty good water. I have seen the solar water fountains which might be fun to put in to add oxygen to the water for the fish. Anyone have a spring problem or put in a small fish pond?

You can call an excavator. They will help with with drainage away from the house and build your pond safely so it does not flood your house.

Also, IF you can look at old satellite images you may see a old pond/river running on your property before homes existed there.

I play it safe with water, it is my nemesis.

 

[smokeyblue]

Yes. I have a spring/veritable river that runs through a tile drain system in my basement. It runs into a sump crock and is sucked up into the municipal sewer by a sump pump (yes this is legal where I live).

 

[Myothername]

You can call an excavator. They will help with with drainage away from the house and build your pond safely so it does not flood your house.

Also, IF you can look at old satellite images you may see a old pond/river running on your property before homes existed there.

I play it safe with water, it is my nemesis.

This property was a pine tree farm before it was developed into a subdivision. That was over 20 years ago. And I'm betting it was a tree farm for at least 10 years before that.

The man who runs the water association said the subdivision was known to have springs and an old neighbor down the road said there were lots of springs. I've seen one other small pond looking area that was dried up at the time in another area of the subdivision.

I would like to find a way to drain the water away from the foundation. I've talked to several people, county extension offices, and no one has any good ideas. I did talk to a foundation guy and he said not to worry about it. It is a slab foundation and if it flooded then I would have to have a talk with the Lord about that whole rainbow thing because our area will never flood, lol.

 

[Myothername]

Yes. I have a spring/veritable river that runs through a tile drain system in my basement. It runs into a sump crock and is sucked up into the municipal sewer by a sump pump (yes this is legal where I live).

Wow. I thought I had it bad.

 

[amcnj]

I know someone who has a naturally fed small pond area. Tadpoles/frogs live there, and in dry years he actually adds water so the eggs hatch and tadpoles survive so the cycle continues. It is a circle, and maybe 12 feet across.