Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Irrigation thoughts? Constant water in yard.

Who can I turn to to find the source of seeping water that been plaguing my front yard for years?
City came out twice and says it ain't them- no chlorine. I wonder on that one. Engineer neighbor thinks it is.
I asked a plumber who turned off our check valve for the sprinklers and thought we had it solved after our bills were greatly cut afterwards but the issue still exists.
We figured there is a natural spring feeding it but a guy that has done irrigation in my town for 30 years says the aquifer is over 200 down and there are no springs.
We have had drilling done for gas for the last couple of years- maybe that??

Neighbor to one side- uphill side - has a bit of seepage in his yard but his bills aren't particularly high.

Not sure who to go to for an answer even though I have a feeling a French drain is in my future.

Take as pure a sample as close to the suspected source and have a couple samples independently tested. Chlorine will evaporate out and I’ve read that UV light might “contaminate” the sample. The city has a vested interest in lying about the source…

Chlorine dyi test kits are cheap and readily found. Secondly chloromines are dominant in the water business since the chlorine binds with the ammonia to give longer life to the chlorine. Especially important with long service lines.

If it's not a leak, can you tile it?

That^^^^ was my 1st thought when I read the OP

This suggests you're on metered water. Turn everything off in the house and see if the meter is still running. If not the source is ground water / spring.

Assuming your irrigation system or sewer pipe isn't leaking somewhere.

Denying culpability seems to be in the city's best interest........

Dig down 3-4 feet let it sit for a day or two and take the sample from the botton.

I did this when the plumber turned off the check valve. nothing was flowing.

The mention that the city is dodging is exactly what a neighbor said. I looking for some independent source to back up the claim or find the source.

Thanks for repsonses guys- hope I see a few more.

Good luck.

Neighbor uphill with similar issue? His leak, or a leak in the water line in his vicinity might be floating downhill. Clay soils in your area? If so they represent a confining layer that can preclude water flow into deeper layers of soil. You have a puzzle but it can be solved. You might want to contact the state water regulators on this.

Chlorine will get depleted from city water pretty quick when moving though soil. Whoever from the city said is wasn't from thier system based just on lack of chlorine is FOS.

I had this problem last year - my water co. came out, I pointed out the seepage, they dug and repaired it. I would think the city would be all over that. If your city continues denying that apparent leak, call TCEQ and let them rip into your city.

P.S. I'm assuming that the leaK is more or less right above the water line??

Why would your water bill be affected by a leak on the uphill neighbors property?

Do you have fire hydrants near by? Every time the fire department flushes them we have seepage for a long time because apparently they are so old they have to be turned off slowly to avoid damage which I think is a load of bs

Huh?

Of course it wouldn't Fireball2. My high bills were likely due to faulty sprinkler station valve(s) which were cut off when we closed the check valve main. They had been high for a long time and I called the water dept who said I must be running sprinklers multiple times- I wasn't. I unplugged the timer thinking it would end it- but of course that won't fix a leaking valve. When I called the city recently they told me my usage was never high- but that sure as hell doesn't explain why my bills had been or what they said before. So....wth?

I thought cutting off the check valve (yes I felt dumb for not thinking of that) would fix all the seepage- but it didn't. It doesn't help that shortly after we had days of rain just as we did this week.
I hoped it would dry out during the two to three weeks in between rain.

During lsat years drought it all dried up making me think it is a natural spring but the engineer neighbor thinks it is city-related. I remembered there is drilling going on. We even received all of like $2 royalties- any chance that plays into it?


Irving_D- YES we have a hydrant across the street and YES the expansion joint between us tends to seep as well.

MOVE!!

We had issues after county installed new Master Meters, our bills went way up. Took about 4 months of complaining and all of a sudden bill drops. We'd turn off water at meter, everything appeared fine, and then you'd have 2k gallons show up in the middle of the night on the bill that no one could explain. We went from 40-50 dollar a month water bills to 250-300, buddy had one of his come in at 1,100 after the new meters were installed.

killerv, yeah- hear ya. When I spoke to the gal a week or so ago I told her about our high bills and had her look up last year. She said we showed no high usage. I mean.....what the.....then why the high bills??

Just reviewing everything I think my only solution is probably a French drain in my front yard.

Neighbor behind me sits maybe eight feet below me and a retaining wall was put in before building began. He came over one day complaining about a leak so I had him walk my back yard and we found no wet spots.
He said that if he pulls a shovel full of soil away from the base of the wall it will pool up. He put in a French drain but must have cost him a mint if he did it from there to the street.

I would just love SOMEONE come here and tell me exactly what is what.

My backyard doesn't drain well at all, in fact its almost end of April and I still can't mow parts of it. Once things get hotter it will dry out quickly. I can't dig a hole a foot without it starting to fill up. Initially, they had septic lines run back there, I guess they found that wasn't gonna work. They then installed an overflow tank and a pump that pushes it probably 300 feet to the front yard to a new drain field. I hate to know what that cost, glad it was done before we bought house. I'd have to french drain about an acre to get my backyard right and navigate a ton of sprinkler lines and heads. I'm not that worried about it.