How to drain a wet area from water: effective ways to deal with excess moisture. Wetland drainage Swampy area What to do

In our large country, swamps and wetlands occupy significant areas. On swampy soils, ordinary plants cannot grow and develop, which need oxygen all the time to feed their underground parts - roots and rhizomes. Stagnant, still water is quickly deprived of oxygen, and most plants die. Only those who have managed to adapt to life in the swamp survive - bog plants.

Meanwhile, in terms of their chemical composition, bog soils are extremely fertile. They can produce high yields of a wide variety of agricultural crops. But for this you must first drain the swamp. Then barren lands harmful to human health will turn into richest fields and pastures. Fat fields will sprinkle where only stunted marsh grasses and stunted shrubs have recently grown.

In our country, a lot of work is being done to drain and reclaim swamps. The agriculture of the socialist country has already received millions of hectares of new fertile land.
The drainage of swamps is now almost completely mechanized. Soviet scientists and engineers have created many wonderful machines that perform all the hard, tedious and monotonous work for people.

How are swamps drained?

First of all, you need to remove excess moisture from the soil, that is, give it a runoff. And the water should, of course, drain into the nearest river. Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to deepen and widen the bed of such a river, and in some places to straighten it. Here you have to remove the soil mainly from under the water.

Nowadays, floating and land excavators, as well as suction dredgers, take out soil from the river.

Floating excavators are used when the width of the river allows the excavated soil to be dumped ashore. This soil thrown out by the excavator is leveled with bulldozers.

Floating dredgers, depending on their performance, are used both on large and small rivers. The soil they extracted from the bottom of the river, mixed with water - the pulp - is pumped through pipes to the shore and poured over the surface of the soil. You don't need a bulldozer here.

But stagnant bog water will not flow into the river by itself, even after its channel has been deepened and widened. For the drainage, it is necessary to lay more channels over the entire area of the swamp. First, they dig the main, that is, the main, channels, then the collector ones. The latter collect water flowing down from the swamp through a shallow closed or open drainage network and drain it into the main canal.

An open network of shallow drainage ditches serves to receive and drain surface water into collector canals, as well as to lower the groundwater level in the area to be drained.

Along with an open network of ditches, a closed network - drainages is used for draining swamps. They can be boardwalk, pottery, fascinated or mole. Board drainage is made of planks that are knocked together in the form of rectangular pipes. The potter's consists of pottery, that is, burnt, clay pipes. Fashinny drainage - from brushwood of various tree species, cleared of leaves and small twigs. And finally, the mole is a system of underground canals that resemble mole passages.

Trunk and collector channels with a depth of 1.5 to 2.5 m are laid by excavators specially adapted to work on swampy ground.

Plow trenchers work on the laying of an open shallow drainage network of ditches. This is a highly productive machine: in an hour it can dig ditches up to 2 km long and up to 80-100 cm deep.

A trench for laying drainage is dug with the help of a bucket excavator or a plow trencher, then drainage is lowered into it and covered with earth from above.

Mole plows and mole draining machines have been created for laying mole drainage. They are set in motion by a tractor specially equipped for work on swampy ground.

Immediately after the canals are laid, their slopes are reinforced with sod or sowed with grasses to avoid collapses and landslides.

But time passes, and open canals and ditches are gradually covered with sand or silt, overgrown with marsh grasses, become shallow, destroyed and, as a result, begin to drain water poorly, or even become clogged. We have to periodically clean and repair them.

So the swamp is drained. All of it was covered with a network of large and small canals. Stagnant water that has accumulated in the soil for years flows freely through these channels into the nearest river. But this is only the first part of the work of ameliorators - this is how people who are involved in the radical improvement of the natural conditions of lands with an unfavorable water regime are called. Now the drained swamp needs to be mastered, prepared for sowing cultivated plants. For the repair and cleaning of ditches and canals, special cleaning machines are used: some for cleaning the ditches of a shallow drainage network, others for cleaning collector and main canals.

The first step is to clear the soil of small shrubs, stumps, bumps and wood debris. You cannot do much here with an ax and a shovel - this is a very laborious task.

A brush cutter mounted on a tractor easily cuts off shrubs and small trees, removes hummocks.

However, hedge trimmers are advantageous to use in cases where the swamp is overgrown not only with shrubs, but also with small forests. If the shrub is without undergrowth, it is simply plowed deep into the ground. This work is performed by a bush plowing unit. Such a hydraulically controlled unit, driven by a tractor, consists of two parts: a hollow drum and a ski with a knife are hung in front of the tractor, and the plow body is behind. The drum, rotating, tilts the bush forward and presses it to the soil surface; the knife cuts the layer with rhizomes in a vertical plane, and the plow body wraps the layer and plows the bushes to a depth of 20 to 50 cm.

Grubbing up stumps and removing wood residues is one of the most difficult tasks in the process of reclaiming drained bogs. Stumps are uprooted with a straight pull of a tractor with hooks on chains or cables, or with a grubber, or a powerful bulldozer that turns out huge stumps, or with a grubber-collector.

After cleaning the drained area from shrubs, stumps, bumps and wood residues, it begins to be prepared for agricultural use. It includes three processes: plowing, cutting and rolling.

The plowing of peat soils in a drained bog should be deep, with full coverage of the surface vegetation cover. For this, special swamp plows with a wide grip are used, which plow the soil to a depth of 50 cm, while wrapping the layer and embedding all vegetation deep into the soil.

The layer of earth wrapped in a plow must then be loosened to the greatest possible depth so that oxygen can freely penetrate into the soil. The layer is loosened with disc harrows or special milling machines.

Then the surface of the drained bog is rolled - leveled with special swamp filling rollers.

Waterlogged soil on the site is always a problem. Unpleasant fumes, hordes of mosquitoes in summer, soaking of garden plants poison the life of lovers of suburban rest. The swamp needs to be drained. How can I do that?

First of all, you should understand the causes of stagnant water in the soil. Depending on this, develop a strategy to combat this unpleasant phenomenon.

Reasons for waterlogging of the soil

It is not so easy for a specialist to figure out what caused the swamp. It is useful to explore the neighboring lands, to get acquainted with the surroundings. There are 2 main reasons for excess soil moisture:

The site is located in a lowland near a natural reservoir, the groundwater comes very close to the surface;
The natural runoff of water after rains is disturbed.

The first reason is less likely to be true - people usually do not take building plots in a swamp. Problems with insufficient water drainage are much more common. The root of the problem may be as follows:

there is a natural source on the site that feeds the swamp, which requires clearing and drainage of water;
your garden plot is located below the neighboring ones, all the water after the rain flows down to you;
structural features of layers and relief: a thick layer of clay is located close to the surface, which does not allow rainwater to be absorbed;

How to get rid of the swamp?

The first advice you will receive is to cover the swamp with sand or soil. This is the easiest, cheapest and most incorrect way. This method does not bring positive results, sooner or later the swamp will return to its previous appearance. It is an unusually sustainable ecological system.

It is impossible to displace water with backfill. You will not be able to draw it out either. There is only one way to completely drain the swamp - to let the water leave the area. For this, drainages are made through which water will flow. It's good if she has somewhere to go, but it so happens that the site is below the neighboring ones or there are obstacles on the way of the running water (building, road). In this case, it is useful to choose a compromise option.

Here are some good ideas for drying out wetlands. Often these decisions are always the wisest.

Make a pond

As trees grow, they absorb and evaporate more and more water, acting as a constantly running pump. If the soil on the site is heavy, clayey, then the roots of the trees, penetrating it in different directions, gradually change its structure.

If the site is large enough, then planting such natural dehumidifiers around its perimeter will be effective, and the efficiency will increase every year.

Make a catchment well and drainage

If the site is small and there is no place for a pond, then you can make a water intake well. It is a construction of concrete rings or a plastic container (this option is simpler and more practical). It is protected from clogging and silting by sprinkling and geotextile. Drainage pipes are brought to the well to collect water from the site.

The water that collects there can be used for irrigation in dry times or pumped out and discharged through pipes into a natural reservoir.

A water intake well is considered the best option for a site under which a clay layer lies, and a layer of fertile soil on top of it is small. Rainwater in such a place does not go into the depths, so in spring and during rains there is a swamp here, in the summer heat the soil dries up. Mosquitoes, silt, the smell of rotting mud - these are the delights of such a site. Growing anything is difficult. What does not dry out in the spring will dry out in the summer, but there is no benefit.

You can build a drainage system, including a water intake well and grooves for collecting water, yourself. The cost of such a facility is small and the benefits can be invaluable.

In the event that these measures do not help to get rid of the swamp, then only a specialist can help solve the problem. A full-fledged drainage system with all the work is not cheap, but this is the only way to get rid of waterlogged soil.

A problematic piece of land is always much cheaper. Almost everywhere, and especially in the north-west of Russia, wet swampy garden areas are often found. Is it possible to drain such lands on your own and how much will the drainage work cost?

How to determine the cause of waterlogging of a site

In order to choose the best way to drain the site, you first need to find out the reason for the waterlogging:

terrain - storm and melt waters always accumulate in lowlands and depressions;
clay soils and peat bogs, which retain moisture in the upper layers of the soil;
high occurrence of underground soil waters - it is not difficult to check the level. Digs a hole in the lowest place of the site, and determine the level at which moisture appears. If this level is less than one meter, then drainage is necessary;
humid climate of the region.

Depending on the cause of the increased soil moisture, a dehumidification method is chosen. Sometimes it is enough to dig a well of a certain depth to fix the problem.

Dehumidification methods

A wetland is not a verdict, you can always correct the situation. The choice of dehumidification method depends on personal preference and local characteristics:

drainage system device - will help remove excess water from the site, but open drainage does not look aesthetically pleasing and is more suitable for arranging a garden or vegetable garden;
drainage well - it is not cheap, but will reliably dry out wet soil;
the creation of a decorative reservoir is suitable for aesthetes who do not plan to grow vegetables and fruits;
lifting the site with additional soil is a cardinal solution that requires large financial costs.

Sometimes you can just plant moisture-loving trees and shrubs in the country and put up with wet soils, enjoying the shady coolness. Birch, chestnut, lilac, bird cherry are very fond of wet peat soils.

Drainage system

Drainage schemes

To drain a plot for a garden, an open drainage system is suitable - this is an extensive network of small channels for the drain of excess water, located under a slight slope.

Several rules for organizing an open drainage system:

groove depth - maximum 80 cm;
slope for drainage - a maximum of five degrees, quite enough;
the bottom of the grooves is covered with gravel of the middle fraction and covered with a geotextile film;
if there is no room for the natural runoff of excess water (lake, central drain), then a drainage well must be built.

For a simple drainage well, a pit up to two meters deep and about a meter wide is suitable.

So that the water remains in such a well, and it can be used to water the garden, the bottom is covered with a film, and the walls of the pit can be laid out with a stone or fanned with clay mortar.

Beautiful decorative pond

It is not difficult in swampy areas. But we must remember that such artificial reservoirs require regular cleaning and disinfection, since these are the main sources of mosquitoes and midges.

The order of work on the device of a small pond:

in the lowest place of the site they dig a hole;
the bottom of the pit is lined with a film in two layers;
the walls of the pond must be laid out with large stones or bricks

It is easy to direct storm water into such a pond along shallow grooves.

Artificial lifting of the entire site

These expensive works should be carried out only if there is a soil analysis, which can be ordered from a geodesy laboratory. It is important to correctly compose the filled soil, since if the area is raised only with sand, for example, this will not give the desired result.
It is necessary to choose a soil mixture that will increase fertility and will not retain moisture in the soil. To raise the ground level to a height of up to half a meter, you need a mixture of sand, gravel and peat.

If there is a layer of clay in the layers, then it must be removed, since the clay retains water and causes rapid waterlogging of the soil.

How to raise the land on the site:

first you need to uproot all the hemp, remove the debris and completely clean the site. You can do this with a tractor, which will remove the topsoil by twenty centimeters;
if there is a clay layer, then it will be inexpensive and easy to remove this layer with a tractor with a bucket;
a strip foundation is arranged around the perimeter, with a depth of 40 - 60 cm;
after that, a mixture of sand and crushed stone of the middle fraction is poured, tamped and covered with peat mixed with sand and fine gravel;
a layer of fertile black soil is poured on top.

In small suburban areas located below the neighboring ones, this is the only option to cope with storm sewage and waterlogging of the area. Even the drainage system cannot cope with all the water flows that naturally flow into the hollow.

Peat is considered a soil type that is extremely unattractive in terms of agricultural cultivation. This attitude is due to a combination of several factors. For example, this is the saturation of the inner layers of the soil with methane and, accordingly, the lack of oxygen, which is so necessary for the root system of plants.

But the main drawback is the very close occurrence of groundwater, which is why during the period of autumn-spring floods, the site often turns into a real impenetrable swamp. However, with the right approach to soil cultivation, even a frequently flooded peatland can be a source of good yields. We will tell you how to drain the swamp in the country, the area around it, what draining the swamps leads to and how to prepare the soil for planting garden crops.

So, the owner of a site located on a peat bog has three primary tasks: to drain it, having achieved a lowering of the groundwater level, to reduce the methane content in the soil, and to enrich it with oxygen.

The first step is to plan, of course, drainage work. How can you lower the humidity level in your summer cottage without special costs? So far, no better way has been invented for this than drainage ditches. However, in our case, their device has some peculiarities.

So, first you have to prepare trenches about half a meter wide. The depth depends on the water table. Taking into account the value of this indicator, which is typical for the Central part of Russia, we can say that successful drainage can be achieved at a depth of 0.7 to 1.4 m. Improving the conditions for moisture removal is facilitated by a slope of at least 1 cm for each running meter.

The bottom of the drainage grooves is covered with brushwood, on top of which a layer of waterproofing material is laid. This can be the most ordinary roofing material, and, not necessarily new, already used, removed from the repaired roof, etc. will do.

The next layer consists of dry grass. You will need a lot of raw materials for this, so, most likely, you will have to mow not only in the summer cottage, but also in the adjacent uncultivated areas, along roads, in the forest, etc. However, this must be done in a timely manner - before the weeds bloom and form seeds. Otherwise, after some time, the entire area of the garden will be covered with wild-growing herbs and it will be much more difficult to deal with them than in a regular area.

The grass mass must be covered with dry crushed peat, after which the soil removed during digging is returned to the trenches. As the ditches are filled, their contents must be carefully tamped, then at the end of the work there will be almost no extra land left.

But if this nevertheless happens, then on the site of the drainage passages it is quite possible to arrange small mounds - after several rains, as a result of precipitation, they will practically be equal to the general surface. This option even saves the owner of the site from the extra hassle associated with the need for periodic top-up of soil.

The device of such an unusual drainage system allows not only to reduce the volume of groundwater in the summer cottage, but also to rid the soil of excess methane, to give it the necessary looseness, which in the future will have a positive effect on the aeration of the beds.

Draining peat bogs is only the first step towards creating fertile vegetable gardens. Further, serious work is ahead to prepare the drained soil. This matter is even more troublesome than drainage of the site, while the owner will need remarkable diligence and patience, since a decent result will have to wait for at least several years.

The main type of work is digging. Peat is very rich in nitrogen, which is a vital element for agricultural plants. The only problem is that while the peat bog is a densely compacted mass, air access to the deep layers is limited, and nitrogen remains inert without contact with oxygen. Digging the soil just solves this problem.

Since it is desirable to affect not only the surface part of the soil, it will be very difficult to properly process a large area by hand. It is best to use for these purposes means of garden mechanization - motor cultivators.

In parallel, it is possible to solve the problem of turning the peat bog into land suitable for the cultivation of vegetables. To do this, when digging, you need to add clay and sand to the soil, the amount of which is determined by the density of peat deposits. You cannot do without enriching the soil with mineral fertilizers, trace elements, as well as organic matter - cow dung mixed with sawdust.

This way you can get a nice vegetable garden. And this is exactly what you were striving for and what draining the swamps can lead to! However, this may take several years. But over time, the site will certainly thank its owner, because peatlands have not only disadvantages, they also have advantages.

For example, they retain moisture well, and in winter they freeze gradually and do not reach too great depths, so that perennial plants and plants planted before winter are well protected even with a small amount of snowfall and low temperatures. So there are some pluses.

If you are fortunate enough to become the master of a wetland, do not despair! Take a closer look at the features of landscape design in the swamp. You have a unique opportunity to use moisture for good. A well-thought-out system of reclamation work and digging drainage ditches with your own hands, as well as planting vegetation, will turn the site into a blooming oasis. In 10-15 years ...

Boggy area: causes and solutions to the problem

It is known that experienced gardeners do not acquire wetlands for building and laying out a garden or creating a landscape design. Dislike for wetlands is explained by the laboriousness of drainage and the creation of a drainage system.

Factors can be the cause of waterlogging:

The presence of a spring or source that feeds the swamp

Features of the topography of the soil with a clay massif located close to the surface

Low, in relation to neighboring sites, the location of the site.

The main factor of waterlogging is dense clay soil with a low filtration coefficient. Peat deposits, formed on a boggy area, absorb and accumulate moisture when the massif is compacted.

Naturally, a high level of groundwater and heavy soil do not have the best effect on the root system of trees and shrubs in wetlands.

To get rid of the boggy area, it is necessary to carry out a number of measures, namely to drain the soil, taking into account the redox properties of groundwater

Ways to drain a swampy area

There are several ways to drain wetlands:

Backfill with soil or sand mixture

Create a drainage system.

backfilling of a wetland

The most accessible, at first glance, are activities when we fill up a wetland. This statement is incorrect, because the swamp is a sustainable ecosystem, and backfilling does not bring the desired results. Over time, fed by groundwater and discharges, the swamp returns to its original form.

More effective are measures to create drainage systems and open drains. Of course, if there are no obstacles and trees of wetlands in the way of water runoff. By the way, in the area with a high groundwater table, a specific formation of the landing hill is assumed.

drainage systems and organization of water collection for wetlands

Natural drainage in swampy areas is complicated by the features of the relief and the granulometric composition of the soil. Therefore, it is necessary to create a system capable of producing runoff and ensuring the redistribution of moisture. There are open and closed types of drainage.

Open drainage for a swampy area is created in the form of ditches, ducts and drainage canals (herringbone pattern). This type of drainage is possible to create episodic runoff (flooding and floods).

The technology for creating a drainage system is standard: the central route is made underground, and excess water flows into it through ditches.

The closed type of drainage of the problem area is carried out by burying pipes into the ground with an open hole to collect water. Trenches for closed drainage are lined with geotextiles, followed by adding a layer of gravel up to 30 cm.

After placing the pipes, the geotextile is covered with a layer of coarse sand and turf. The depth of the trench in relation to the water level is

Traditionally, a closed drainage system is located with a slope towards a collecting drainage reservoir or well. Distinguish the following organization of water collection and drainage structures:

Drainage system for general use

Drainage well with subsequent use for irrigation

Man-made creation of an artificial reservoir.

The obvious advantage of a wetland area is the construction of a drainage well, followed by the use of the collected water for irrigation. You can build this type of well with your own hands at the lowest point of a section with a diameter of up to 1.2 m and a depth of up to 3 m. A pump is installed to use the collected water.

To create a drainage system, plastic pipes with holes in the walls are used and inspection wells are installed at the corners of the line. The pipes are laid in trenches up to 70 cm deep for clay soil, up to 85 cm for loam and 1 m for sandy soil.

How to drain is shown in the video.

arrangement of canals and ditches (French drainage)

It is easy to become a builder and owner of your own Cross Canal (almost like in Versailles) on the wetlands of the site. You will only need some schemes for creating drainage channels covered with rubble and a shovel. Ditches covered with rubble do not bloom and are not clogged with silt masses.

The outer part of the channel or ditch is covered with large pebbles or laid out with rubble. The fill ditches are combined with the paths of the site.

In addition to the possibility of using the collected water for irrigation, there is a good opportunity to create an artificial reservoir or pond in a swampy area.

creating a pond

The pond should be located at the lowest point of the wetland, taking into account the water collection point and the drainage system. Pre-existing ditches, ditches and hillocks should preferably be leveled.

In the case of an existing pond or swamp, it will be necessary to reinforce the shoreline with retaining walls and boulders.

The video will help to build a pond.

planting trees and shrubs

Planting plants and trees can be considered an effective measure for draining wetlands. Naturally, you need to know what to plant in a wetland. Suitable trees and plants that can save the soil from waterlogging are willows, irga, hawthorn, fern and Amur lilac. Weeping willows have a developed root system, with the help of which the soil is dried.

lawns, lawns and flower beds

To create and lay out lawns, lawns and flower beds, additional drainage is carried out and the type of plants is selected: calamus, cattail, irises, clover and ornamental cereals.

Let us suggest that the swampy soil is black-brown and brown in color with a predominance of an acid reaction. Therefore, when creating flower beds and lawns, it will be necessary to transform the soil layer and alkalinize it. For this, imported soil and alkaline additives are added to the site.