How Groundwater Problems will be Solved

Lysimeters, piezometers and tensionmeters are the issues that Washington Terrace residents ever talk about. To engineers, these words are devices used to measure water levels, but to Washington Terrace residents these words mean hope for ending an underground water problem which has plagued residents in certain parts of the city for several years.

A major project priced at around $75,000 includes an underground drainage system which will be converted into a storm drain after some time. In building up that system, 15 inch pipes segments should be put up at a level more than two feet beneath the basement level of homes in the area. The ground water needs to seep into the pipe that's why the open segments will be wrapped by a gravel envelope. Now, to determine the amount of water streaming through this underground pipe and the amount of surface water leaking into the ground, different kinds of measuring devices is used in the project wherein it will be managed by a local state university student. Work began with the installation of a huge cylindrical lysimeter in the city's Central Park. Beneath a layer of grass, the big tank filled with soil and then enclosed in another cylindrical tank is buried deep to replicate the layers which surface water must travel before becoming part of the ground water flow.

A staircase going to the device which accurately measures water soil is located at the lysimeter near the fence of the center field line of the park's baseball diamond. To be able to quantify the surface water, a device called tensionmeters are used while to know the deepness of water along the underground drainage system, piezometers are used. All of these devices which act as mechanical roots have not been installed yet.

As turf begins to dry out, the tensionmeter pulls water out of the ground and then returns water back to the soil. Because of the high cost of these devices, only four sets will be installed with two located in the city park and two more on a private residence in the study area. When the turf is in need of more water, the importance of a tensionmeter enters.

The study of the sprinklers used by residents, the city, and two different churches will be included in other tests. If only many residents participate, the tests would be the answer in determining whether surface water is gravely adding up to the groundwater problem. Initial results of the study show that the underground drainage system helps in decreasing the groundwater problem in the area. Some residents who have pumped water from their property in the past have been pumping almost negligible amounts since the installation of the system.

It was during the end of May until the middle of June when the water tables in some areas dropped as much as 2.5 feet, according to studies. Another study claims that the groundwater situation is not at all caused by the leakage from its holding tanks. Among the rest of the groups, the city is the root cause of over watering according to the initial results of the unfinished study.

The proper watering frequency and the right amount of water to be used will soon be learned by the residents once the conducting of sprinkler tests has been finished. In conclusion, by attending the meetings, the city mayor hopes that the residents would be able to learn the results of the study.

A major project needing an extensive bonding or continuing at a slower rate are the two sole decisions which the council needs to dwell on after they have heard the resident's comments, according to the mayor. The capability of the underground drain to handle both surface and subsurface water inspired the mayor to decide that in future land developments, this system should be installed with subdividers.

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