We’ve had a couple of exceptional (for the east coast of Scotland) bouts of rain in the last 3 weeks or so. I say exceptional, we’ve not seen it like this in almost 5 years of living here, and according to other locals it was the snowmelt of 2010 that last caused this much flooding. That said, given the impact of climate change this is likely to become more normal in years to come.

This is the field by our house a couple of weeks ago, and it was essentially the same this morning:

The ground was (and is) totally saturated. This is obviously fantastic news for the ducks, but not quite so good for us – the soakaway for our shower and bathroom sink isn’t doing the soaking away thing.

So here’s the question for any drainage experts: how do you go about preventing this sort of thing happening on an essentially flat field? I could go mad with a digger and dig some ditches. While this would undoubtedly be great fun, the ground is basically flat so the water would have nowhere to go. There is a ditch in the adjacent wood, but in heavy rain it actually flows towards us, so hooking up with that would presumably just make it easier for the water from the wood to saturate the field by us.

Similarly, I could dig some massive pits and fill with gravel or soakaway baskets, but with nowhere for the water to go would they just fill up with water and put us back at square 1?

Any thoughts? Anything I can do to avoid this, or should I just give up, build a massive canoe and float our house off somewhere else?

I think the gravel traps/ land drain channels might work. You could run one along your boundary too.

You could also plant some trees on your boundary (assuming it a good way from the house).

Just found this about swales. Might be worth investigating if its your field.

or should I just give up, build a massive canoe and float our house off somewhere else?

^This.

As you say the normal solution is to increase the storage capacity of the soakaway but that depends on the water table being below the level of the storage. There are reed bed based systems for treating discharged water but even these depend on a fall across the site.

I have seen a ‘packet based sewage system’ which was essentially a pressurised system based on submarine technology but that was in a decommissioned nuclear bunker built by the MOD on a pretty much unlimited budget.

Hertshore is built in a massive Victorian or earlier hole dug by the local landowner(‘s men) to drain his fields.

I don’t think there’s any chance of keeping the field dry – you could keep the house and garden dry with a massive berm and pump?

Is the ground saturated or is the top soil compacted from modern Farm machinery working in wet weather? Could reverse the latter with better management overtime.

Can the water be stored Or delayed higher up before it reaches This point? Draining this field will also drain all the nuitrients out of the soil.

If it’s not needed as a field. Can you plant trees to draw up more water?

That’s a **** load of water – sorry but cant see you being able to have much influence on that other than some pretty major earthworks.

that depends on the water table being below the level of the storage.

You’ve put into words better than I have what the issue is. With this level of rain, I think that the water table locally is basically ground level.

That’s a **** load of water – sorry but cant see you being able to have much influence on that other than some pretty major landscaping and ditching works.

I’m not scared of some major ditching if that’s the solution – I just don’t know if it would do anything given there’s little to no run on the land to flow water away.

Is the ground saturated or is the top soil compacted from modern Farm machinery working in wet weather? Could reverse the latter with better management overtime.

In general it gets a tractor over it twice a year to cut hay, that’s it. It was last plowed and resown about a year before we moved in, so 2014/2015 ish. There’s also been some horses in the other end of the field this year which I guess would compact it down a bit.

If it’s not needed as a field. Can you plant trees to draw up more water?

I’ve actually been planting trees elsewhere in the field, more for biodiversity/looks than anything else. Could plant some down that end if it would help. What would the benefit be, is it the water the trees use or because the roots aerate/break the soil up a bit?

… built in a massive Victorian or earlier hole dug by the local landowner(‘s men) to drain his fields.

Massive pond is another plan. Probably wouldn’t help with the soakaway much, but the ducks/wildlife in general would love it.

The problem with Scotland is that thanks to the ice age we have lots of clay near the surface which makes drainage difficult particularly via soakaways. I do know a very good drainage consultant who sorted out our issues (just outside of Edinburgh) – basically got our permits and permissions changed with SEPA as the house had been built with a soakaway in ground that would never support a soakaway. PM me if you want his details.

If this is the soak away for a sceptic tanks a drainage mound is used to to raise the drainage field above the water table.

This does require some fall from property to tank.

I. Order to drain the field
If there is somewhere for the water to drain a quick method that may help is a mole plough. Otherwise you are into laying drains under the soil. There are some amazing machines for doing this now. But there needs to be a good ditch or similar for it to go!

What would the benefit be, is it the water the trees use or because the roots aerate/break the soil up a bit?

Bit of both but mainly the former, if you can reduce the the amount getting There by planting further up and Dry out the spot. Clearly You’re fighting against the fact the topography means the water wants to end up there.

the soakaway for our shower and bathroom sink isn’t doing the soaking away thing.

These are normally connected to foul drains, unless you have a proper drainage filter bed / poop machine / similar system. Is your connection ‘correct’?

I did help brother in law last year as their kitchen sink was just lobbed into a soakaway, not connected to drains.

Look at the lowest points in the field where there’s standing water. Plant birch trees (they flourish in big land so can deal with acidic standing water).

Also plant trees as a boundary between yourself and where the higher water table is (drainage ditch at forest edge) so that you create a raised area with trees. This will provide a barrier.

Beeches suck up water, also birch. Hazel, birch and Rowan will give you a lower more open canopy.

to drain it you need an outlet, all field drainage runs to somewhere, if it doesn’t you get pictures like you posted

I would suggest getting a proper agricultural field drainage survey done with some topo survey, that way you can see whether some simple swales will work or whether more intervention needed

modern designs are 0.8-1m deep, perforated pipe, surrounded by clean stone to the subsoil/top soil boundary. Sub soiling may help.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/291508/scho0612buwh-e-e.pdf

These are normally connected to foul drains, unless you have a proper drainage filter bed / poop machine / similar system. Is your connection ‘correct’?

I don’t know much about modern drainage regs, but as the house was built in the 1920’s/30’s and modernised in the 70’s, I would hazard a guess at ‘not a chance’.

The shower and bathroom sink both dump into a drain which heads off in the direction of the field. This was backed right up a few weeks ago when the field flooded, suspect it will look similar today:
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I think this is probably the original drainage for the property. The kitchen sink and toilet both still drain fine, so I think they go to the septic tank (a later addition which apparently is still working ok).

to drain it you need an outlet, all field drainage runs to somewhere, if it doesn’t you get pictures like you posted

I guess that’s part of my original ponderings – where do you run drainage to on flat, saturated land? If there were a hill it’d be easy enough, I’d just lay field drains with a fall to a ditch which then heads downhill.

I do know a very good drainage consultant who sorted out our issues (just outside of Edinburgh) – basically got our permits and permissions changed with SEPA as the house had been built with a soakaway in ground that would never support a soakaway. PM me if you want his details.

Cheers, I’ll drop you a line.

If your septic tank is working fine then it is not flooded and it’s soakaway/drainage field is working. That means that any other soakaway is either knackered, or you just have a blocked drain that needs rodding.