Sub-surface Drainage

Drainage is an important issue because most plants cannot survive water-logging for more than a short time. Soil becomes water-logged when its pores fill with water. Once the soil is saturated, root growth in most plants can occur only on the surface.

When there is more water than the soil pores can hold, the water will collect in the soil surface and drain by gravity to the lowest point. Surface drains can remove the excess water but when the water doesn’t get off the land quickly enough or open drains cut up the paddocks then sub-surface drainage is the solution.

Subsurface drainage reduces the water table below the root zone and is used where surface drainage is not effective.