A drainage problem in South Columbus, with possible solutions
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Date
1983
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Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
There is a small lake on the Roland Windmiller and adjacent properties in Columbus, Ohio. The lake is about five acres in area and has an average depth of about four feet. It is roughly elliptical in shape. The drainage from the lake is toward the south-southeast for about 1200 feet, then cuts sharply to the southwest and into Whittler Ditch, and thence to the Scioto River. The lake was formed when the water table rose above the land surface. This was due to the high permeability of the glacial outwash which underlies the area, and to the area's proximity to the groundwater discharge into the Scioto River. The water is of fair quality, quite hard but not greatly polluted. The lake supports a diverse biologic community. The area under study has a covering of glacial till and outwash with a thickness of about 140 feet. Underlying the glacial drift is 80 feet of Columbus Limestone, a massive fossiliferous limestone, Devonian in age, of great commercial value as aggregate. The research area is in a low marshy area adjacent to the Scioto River, and the drainage is poor. A tile pipe was laid down around the turn of the century to facilitate drainage from the area. The lake appeared around 1940. An attempt to drain the lake took place in 1943, but a tragic accident resulted in which two members of the Windmiller family were killed. The situation was exacerbated in the late 1960's when the tile pipe was damaged due to construction in the area, after which the lake enlarged to its present size. There are several possible solutions to this problem, but the most feasible seems to be laying down a plastic field pipe which will drain the lake and will connect with a similar pipe on the Vick property about 1200 feet to the south.