How to Fix a Retention Basin

Retention basins serve to accumulate storm water or runoff, holding and releasing it in a controlled manner. Usually constructed on a simple basis by raising the edges (or berms) to a level height that's sufficient to hold water, a retention basin requires repair if settling occurs. Setting can cause an area of the wall to sink or crack or if damage to the spillway or basin bottom is evident. Read on to learn more.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Monitor the basin on a regular basis to detect problems when they are small enough to fix without spending a lot of money. Most problems develop slowly and proper maintenance will alleviate them.
2. Allow the level of the water to recede naturally below the problematic area. If this is not possible, initiate a controlled release of the water. If the basin is simple and no water control gate exists, consider pumping the water from the basin until you can reach the damage. In most cases, the wall will need to dry out before you can fix it.
3. Haul in more soil to rebuild a retaining wall that has settled or collapsed. Once the damaged area is dry, you can fill in the void and compact it. Loose soil does not have the structural integrity of compressed soil.
4. Repair damage to a water control gate when necessary. Consult the documentation that came with the gate, or call the manufacturer who will send a representative out to assess the damage.
5. Temporarily divert water with sandbags or hay bales if your basin is small and you need more time to fix it. You can't stop the rain, but by layering bags filled with sand or bales in the path of the source that feeds the basin, you may be able to divert the water around your basin.

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