On our property there is a seasonal creek that is mainly fed from runoff. Its path goes through our foundation! So we have an 18-in. culvert through the stem wall. While working on the foundation we made a temporary diversion (above) so that our work would not be flooded. The first big rain in January sent the diverted water down and into a neighbor’s pond, which then flooded onto her driveway and washed gravel onto the county road.
No bueno!
It turned out she knows my parents and I went to high school with her daughter and we worked it out. I rechanneled the water. We got some big storms in March and everything seemed to be okay until I got a phone call from another neighbor below us: Tree down. A big 4-ft. ponderosa pine. My fault.
The lesson learned is that hydrology combined with topography, geology, weather, and flora is very complex. I could write a chapter on these three acres affected by this little drainage.
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