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jordanaworman

Water Management System

jordanaworman
10 years ago

Not sure if this is the correct forum but please help or direct me to where I should be. My DH and I are currently doing a 800 sq ft addition to our home. As part of the addition, our town mandates that we submit a stormwater management plan for any addition over 500 sq ft. We knew not much about it (or the ramifications) and hired an engineer to do testing and come up with a plan. We assumed he would design some drywells (like most of our neighbors have) and that would be the end of it

After doing perc testing in December (!!!), he told us that we had no perc so were not eligible for drywells. Instead, he came up with a $50,000 plan that included storing all this water in a pipe under my driveway and slowly have it drain into the village system. We don't have water problems in our home and never have and are all of a sudden responsive for retrofitting the property for 50k!!! There has got to be another way. Has anyone come up with some sort of affordable stormwater management system on a property that purported has no perc? If I do a perc teste in August will I come up with better numbers?
Much help is needed or please refer me to the forum that can help

Much love!

Comments (5)

  • Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
    10 years ago

    I'm only answering because nobody has, and probably because most have not encountered your problem.

    It might help if we knew more about where you are, like state or county or something.

    If this was me, I'd be down at the town hall, making friends, and begging for answers. See if you can find out what others did in your situation.

    I would also google this question you have stated many ways.

    So sorry I can't be of more help.

    Suzi

  • jordanaworman
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thank you for responding. We are located in Westchester county in New York. Any general answers about land with no perc would be helpful. Soil conditioner?

  • Suzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
    10 years ago

    Sometimes more than two answers make people think about responding here. You got my curiosity up for sure:-))

    I googled "Land with no perc," and found an interesting article that you probably already read. I never even heard the word "perc," but now I know! Thanks for the good education.

    It amazes me that your neighbors all have dry wells, but you can't. Something seems wrong. Building codes change, and people who already have a solution just get grandfathered in.

    We are on septic, so I'm aware of that, but our land is decomposed granite with zero clay, so it percs!

    Here is the article I found.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Soil and Perc Testing

  • jordanaworman
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I've actually been reading a lot about applying a soil conditioner. I think I may try that to improve my soil. Know anything about it?

  • pkovo
    10 years ago

    I would start by identifying which watershed area of Westchester County you are in, and then research the details of that particular watershed areaâÂÂs requirements for stormwater management plan. Search online, thereâÂÂs likely information out there. I know little about Westchester county personally (IâÂÂm in NJ), but I know that runoff from your area can effect a number of important bodies of water, so I assume the requirements in your area are more stringent than most. Guessing itâÂÂs some aggressive approach to reducing the outflow to sewers which ultimately end in these bodies of water. You said you failed the perc test, but was it a drastic failure, or did you nearly pass? I know squat about perc tests, but can it be retested, when there hasnâÂÂt been much recent rainfall? Can you try different areas for the holes? Probably questions for your engineer. Any of your neighbors that are using drywells install them recently? Speak to any of them? Did they use an engineer, if so who? How did you find your engineer? Is he local, and knowledgible about your specific area etc?

    My point is, I would be inclined to NOT accept his $50k solution without a heck of a lot of my own research if I were you. It could be accurate, but on the surface sounds kind of crazy. I would call local code officials, etc, and just start asking questions until I got to the right person(s), then probe with them. Good luck, it sounds like a really annoying issue to deal with. As if itâÂÂs not annoying enough dealing with an addition by itself.