SFGATE

How to Determine the Soil Absorption Rate

for a Drainage Bed
byJillKokemuller,DemandMedia

Standing water creates a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

If you plan to construct a drainage bed, or drainage basin, it is important to know the absorption rate of the
site's soil. This rate will let you know how much area in square feet the bed needs to cover for draining water to
infiltrate, or absorb into, the soil rather than pooling on or running off the area. Pooling can attract insects and
cause odors, and runoff erodes soil and can spread contaminates. Soil's absorption rate depends on the amount
of clay, sand, loam or gravel the soil contains.
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Choose at least three locations to dig a hole in the prospective drainage bed area, with the holes spaced
evenly across that area. If the area is large area, then digging more than three holes will produce more

accurate soil absorption rate results. For example, plan to dig one hole at each corner and one in the center of
the future drainage bed area, or dig holes in a grid pattern every 20 feet if the bed's area will be very large.
Dig a vertical hole with a 4- to 12-inch circumference in each location chosen for a hole, using an augur or
spade for the task. Each hole's sides must be vertical, and each hole must be the same depth water will
enter the drainage bed, which usually is 6 to 36 inches below the soil surface.

Roughen the walls of each hole if necessary to keep the absorption conditions natural. If a hole's sides are
smooth, solid surface rather than how soil appears naturally in the yard, then that condition will not

result in an absorption rate that is accurate for the yard.

Place about a 2-inch-deep layer of 1/2-inch gravel at the bottom of each hole.

Place about a 2-inch-deep layer of 1/2-inch gravel at the bottom of each hole.

Fill each hole with at least a 12-inch-depth of water, measuring from the top of the gravel. If a hole is
fewer than 12 inches deep, then put at least a 6-inch-depth of water in the hole. Allow the water to

saturate the soil overnight or for a minimum of four hours, adding water to each hole as necessary during that
time to keep the water level at the 12-inch or 6-inch depth above the gravel, using whichever water depth you
used originally. If, however, you add water to a hole twice and both times the water drains in fewer than 10
minutes, then you do not need to add water to the hole again. Also, if the soil is mostly clay and a hole's water
level does not seem to move much, then continue to maintain the hole's water level for three to five days. The
time you maintain a certain water level in each hole is the saturation period.

Place a yardstick or ruler in each hole the day after the saturation period is over. The yardstick's or ruler's

Add enough water to each hole so that the water depth is 6 inches. Refill each hole to the 6-inch water

end displaying the 1-inch mark must be at the hole's bottom, above the layer of gravel. The yardstick or
ruler needs to reach the top of the hole, and so use a ruler only in a hole that is no more than 12 inches deep.
The water does not have to have drained completely from the hole, but it must be fewer than 6 inches deep.

depth every 30 minutes for four hours as water seeps from the hole. Write down the water level in each
hole at the four-hour mark, but do not add water to the holes. Subtract one hole's current level of water from six
to determine how many inches of water were absorbed. Repeat that task for each hole. If your yard has sandy
soil and the holes' water is gone before 30 minutes pass, then refill each hole to the 6-inch water depth every 10
minutes for a period of one hour. Take the water level measurement of the holes at the one-hour mark.
Divide the elapsed time by the number of inches the water level dropped from the 6-inch level in a hole
during the last measurement interval. If, for example, 4 inches of water remained in a hole after 30
minutes, then divide 30 by 2 to get an absorption rate of 15 minutes per inch for that hole.

Add the absorption rates of each hole. Divide that total by the number of holes to get the average

absorption rate for the entire prospective drainage bed area. If you found more than a 20-minute per
inch difference in the absorption rates of the fastest-draining and slowest-draining holes, then use the slowestdraining hole's absorption rate as the absorption rate for the drainage bed area.
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ThingsYouWillNeed
Auger or spade
Tape measure
1/2-inch gravel
Contaner or garden hose
Yardsticks or rulers
Clock or watch

Warnings
Before digging, contact your area's utility companies to have underground telephone, electric, natural gas and
water lines marked so you don't strike them.
Check with your town, county or state to learn whether or not a permit is required for your drainage bed.
If you want to build a drainage bed for graywater, find out your state's graywater guidelines. Some states have
no requirements while others require the use of calculations from a chart based on soil type rather than
absorption rate.

References(5) (#)
AbouttheAuthor
Jill Kokemuller has been writing since 2010, with work published in the "Daily Gate City." She
spent six years working in a private boarding school, where her focus was English, algebra and
geometry. Kokemuller is an authorized substitute teacher and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English
from the University of Iowa.

PhotoCredits
Karl Weatherly/Photodisc/Getty Images
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