Water Management @ Our New Old Farmhouse

About a month ago, I showed the last pictures of our #NewOldFarmhouse where we were having our driveway poured out front.  More recently, the crew moved on to the landscaping and that includes the underground routing of drain pipes.  We're putting the downspouts and the sump pump drain into pipes underground.  You can see one of the big runs in the image above. 

They're taking some of the pipes and running them towards a dry well and others...they're running into the yard and installing some 'pop ups' and then letting the grading of the property take over.  

I took some photos of the drywells (yes...there's more than one) that we put in underground and I'll post the details of those over time.  It seemed that we had a few choices:  put in the drywells or include a water garden - like the one that the City of Elmhurst recently installed as a demonstration.  

From a landscaping perspective, I had a really unique experience.  The subcontractor selected by our builder - Green Grass Landscaping in Downers Grove - is run by one of my dear college friends.  It was so nice to be engaged with him on the project and I felt very comfortable with everything he was recommending and knew we were in good hands.  

His team worked with the engineer and came up with a water management plan.  Here's the crew placing some of the pop ups in the rear yard.  

We have a half-an-acre of land in total and most of that is in our backyard.  The neighbors to our north have a new house and they've taken on many of the same water management practices, so in that direction, we're in good shape.  To the north, the house is older and their water management practices aren't modern, so I'm not sure what the rain fall will bring.  In terms of grade, we're higher up and the engineering that was will ensure that we're safe as kittens.  

This was all done before the sod went in both in the front and back.  And the plants/trees!  I'll post some details of those soon.