# filling over drainage ravine/ditch?



## denemante (Apr 2, 2010)

Hey all,

On the back edge of my property, there is an area about 25 feet wide, and about 65 feet long. Nice little chunk of space. On my side, we have tall decorative shrubs. Where my property meets my neighbor's, he has a tall privacy fence.

So this area is unseen by both of us, and just sort of an unused, overgrown strip.

Right down the center is a natural ditch - perhaps even more of a swale. My decorative shrubs are on a slight berm, as is his fence. Generally, my property and my neighbors are graded to pour water into this area.

This strip is usually dry and has no natural source of water - but definitely becomes a 2-3 foot wide by 8 inch deep stream during rain.

I want to use this land since I own it. I might put a garden, grotto, kid's play area, - even a batting cage - who knows.

I know I can't just rent a bobcat and level it. That would certainly cause flooding in my own and other's yards during rain.

I doubt I'd have a budget to bury drain piping. I might, however, be able to relocate the low point/swale/ditch - just move it closer to my neighbor's fence and let it remain natural so I wouldn't have to go over it to utilize my space.

Any ideas on what I could do to reclaim this area or how you might do it?


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## AllanJ (Nov 24, 2007)

You said it was 25 feet wide?

I think you could get it down to under half that, say 9 feet wide by constructing a ditch lined with brick sized stones.

A channel at least 3 feet wide by 8 inches deep with a U shaped (not V shaped) bottom must continue to exist at no less than the same depth as the existing low point. This means that the sides of the new ditch have to be steeper thus the need for stone lining.


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