Community Center Project

French Drain system

I know that the issue of ground water under the Community Center has been of concern to the Tribal Membership. The French drain system that will take water away from the Community Center building has now been installed. The following photographs represent how that installation was done. I was very happy with the outcome of the drain system installation. It is a very sound design that will be able to handle the water for a long time to come.

    The first two photographs are an overall view of the Community Center foundation area. It shows how the ground water leaches out of the hillside. These photos are taken prior to any drain systems being installed.  

Figure 1 - North side of the Community Center Figure 2 - West side of Community Center

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

    As you can see, there is a considerable amount of water along the toe of each hillside. The French Drain system was designed to be installed on both the North and West sides of the foundation of the building. The next set of photos illustrates this process.  

Figure 3 - Looking west on the north sideFigure 4 - Looking north along the west side

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 Figure 3 shows the perforated pipe in the bottom of the trench. The trench, at this point, is excavated into the shale bench. After the trench is completed, the trench is filled with a washed rock, as shown in  Figure 4. Then a geotextile material is placed over the drain rock. This is to prevent dirt from filtering down through the drain rock and eventually plugging up the perforated pipe. The trench is then backfilled and compacted.

    The perforated pipe collects ground water from the trench areas and routes it to the south and to the east. Normally, one discharge point would be used for this type of drain system however, in this case, each line is broken off into 7-8 different discharge points in the wetlands. This was a requirement of the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to disperse ground water more evenly across the wetland area. This is illustrated in the following photographs.  

Figure 5 - Trench showing manifold trenches for dischargeFigure 6 - Discharge outlets into wetlands

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                            

    The ends of the discharge pipes are covered with a wire mesh screen that will prevent animals from entering the French drain system. The following photos show the screen as well as ground water being discharged into the wetlands.  

Figure 7 - Grates That Will Be Used To Block Ends of Discharge PipesFigure 8 - Water Discharging From French Drain Ends of Discharge Pipes system

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Now that the system is in place. The water is being removed from the Community Center foundation site. The last photo shows what the Community Center site looks like now. As you can see, there is no water present in area anymore. It is being removed by the drain system.  

Figure 9 - View Looking North From the South Side of The Community Center Site

 

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