Dry Creek Bed

[OptaGreen]

I am looking for a little direction and/or advice on a client's request for a dry creek bed for a drainage swale in the back yard. I have never constructed anything like this but I feel confident that I could. So my questions are a)Are there any do's and don'ts that I should pay particular attention to? b)This swale is part of a subdivision drainage so is there any thing in particular I should look out for beyond making sure the natural flow of water is not obstructed? The area is not terribly large, 9'x72'. Any comments etc would be greatly appreciated.

[4seasons]

try to plant larger stones every now and then to force the runoff from going in a direct path.

[Stonehenge]

Here are a few tips:

Excavate a few inches deeper than the finished elevation of the stone bed (ensures you don't hold water back on the neighbors upstream).

Excavate an additional trench at the bottom of the swail to hold a 6" corrugated perforated pipe (capped at both ends). This will hold small amounts of standing water, keeping it from seeing sunlight, which will prevent algae growth.

Line the bottom of the swail with weed fabric (even before you place the pipe), then place the pipe and cover it with another layer of fabric.

Use different sized stones, from 3/4" up to 12-16", placing the largest ones first, then just pouring/dumping the others around them and raking it out. Gives the most natural look, IMHO.

Hope that helps.

[cutntrim]

I'll be doing something similar at a customer's house soon. They're the last house on the street and by the time the runoff from the swale running along the backyards reaches them, it's a rushing river.

The neighbour has a raised garden along the back with weeping tile running the length then daylighting under my customer's fence. I'm gonna tie into that pipe and run it to the catch basin at the far end of the yard. I'm only planning on using potato stones to cover the pipe though. Dry creek beds aren't naturally found in the middle of suburban backyards here so I'm not worried about the uniformity of the stones.