Looking for advice on (temporarily) plugging a culvert

[Ellen B]

Hi everyone, here's the situation: I've got a year-round spring on my property, and the overflow from the spring box (only a few GPM in summer) runs down a draw. Halfway down the property, there is a dam across the draw that creates a small pond, probably about 4000 gallons, with a 16" culvert passing under a dirt road for the outflow. There is a 4" PVC pipe buried under the road as well, directly on top of the culvert, which was put there by the previous owner to allow for plugging the culvert in the summer without washing out the road. In the winter the draw is full from runoff and I need the culvert open, but during our dry summers the 4" pipe is more than adequate.

I'd like to keep the culvert plugged all summer to take advantage of the additional water storage this provides, but the previous owner's method of plugging it isn't working out for me. He had a five gallon bucket (filled with spray foam to prevent it from collapsing), and then put two lawn tractor tires around it. He'd push this into the culvert, inflate the tubes, and according to him, that worked great. However, I can't get it to last more than a few days before one or both of the tubes pops. At first I thought this was from blackberry canes washing in and popping them, but I've started being more thorough in examining where the punctures are located, and this last time it was definitely not on a part of the tube that was exposed to the dammed water. I'm thinking the inside of the culvert may just be too rough for the inner tubes.

Does anyone have some creative ideas about how to plug the culvert up, while allowing for the plug to be reasonably easy to remove once the rains start in the fall?

 

[bcp]

C-2 Distributing Gates Waterman Valve LLC

Slide Gates - Fresno Valves & Castings

Bruce

 

[Ellen B]

Thanks Bruce. I should have mentioned this, but I think the pond side of the culvert is in too poor of condition to accept the stub on that gate you linked to. The end is all chewed up, and it isn't even really protruding past the concrete/rock dam at this point. I guess replacing the culvert itself and then using that gate would be the cleanest option, but I've got a lot of projects on the list already for this summer and digging up my road is something I'd rather wait a couple years on if I can.

 

[4570Man]

Use a tougher bladder than an inner tube like a rescue bag designed for lifting vehicles. What does the pond side of the culvert look like? Can you just block it with a piece of plywood? What is going to happen with the 4” pipe when it rains.

 

[Diggin It]

Angle grinder to smooth the culvert inner edge? Or maybe some kind of edging like a piece of bed liner or truck flap glued in place?

 

[4570Man]

Angle grinder to smooth the culvert inner edge? Or maybe some kind of edging like a piece of bed liner or truck flap glued in place?

Maybe put the inner tube inside a fire hose.

 

[JPRambo]

I think a weir gate is the answer you need.

 

[oosik]

Square hay bales - stacked up against the 16" culvert. Dirt, silt, debris will soon plug the bales. And if it works - easy & cheap.

 

[Ellen B]

I have to get outside now but I'll check out rescue bags later, I hadn't heard of those before. I'll take a picture of the culvert and post it when I get back inside this afternoon, I don't think plywood would be doable though without somehow extending the culvert into the pond or casting some kind of concrete extension in lieu of that. We have reliable drought here in the summer, and when it does rain it's not generally a deluge, but I'm trying to figure something out that's either inflatable or otherwise easily removable so that I can quickly pull it on relatively short notice just in case.

 

[JPRambo]

I think a weir gate is the answer