1) A ditch full of water-upper left of picture is culvert which goes under Pine Road towards the Tennis Courts.
Water level is just under 2 feet above sea level.
Almost everything in this picture is actually on private property (1 Addy Road).
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2) As everyone in Middlesex knows, it doesn't take much to stop flow in the drainage ditches.
Here, the 2x12 was embedded in the sides of the ditch to keep water from flowing in either direction.
The top of this dam is about 2' 3" above sea level.
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3) Some bricks were placed at the bottom of the UPSTREAM side of the dam,
a 1' section of pipe and a 45 degree elbow was attached to the sump pump,
and the pump immersed in the water to pump the water OVER the dam and away from Middlesex.
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4) The pump was virtually silent and some observers felt the sound of water splashing was quite peaceful.
However, Robbie Lobban contributed a 90 degree PVC fitting, and the pump output was placed right at the "downstream" water level.
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The result was a system which was quite inaudible from about 20 feet away-this was verified by various members of the Mills and Hillebrecht families who live closest to the site of this experiment.
After about an hour, the water level on the upstream side was about 2" below the level on the downstream side-not bad for a whimpy 2500 gallon per hour pump.
Feeling bold, the Public Works Committee freed some upstream obstructions in the ditch.
The resulting increase in water flow was enough to overwhelm the pump,
not to mention clog the pump's intake with pine needles and other debris.
What did we learn? We need a bigger pump to remove 6 months worth of accumulated standing water.
Although DNREC has indicated they can update our survey of driveway culverts and assist us with planning an improved system,
they have a sufficient backlog that they cannot start until this winter.
In the meantime, a list of drainage ditch maintenance items has been passed along to Wilgus, and they plan to be working on it this summer.
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