What's the best way to drain surface water from a low-lying building
lot with a partially constructed house already on it? The house is
well built on a poured concrete foundation sitting on limestone
bedrock just inside the cliff by about 25 feet.The lot is ocean front,
about 100x200 ft., separated from the sea by a limestone cliff about
10 feet above the wet area. The cliff is about 25 feet above high tide
and extends about 20 feet inland, before the forested area begins. 
The water collects in the forested area and covers about half an acre
up to 6 inches deep but only in the spring for maybe a month or so. It
is dry the rest of the year. We want to put in both a well (good water
likely at about a 50 ft depth) and a septic field also (may fail the
perc test at the moment but certainly would in the spring). There is
about 2-6 feet of rocky loamy forest floor soil covering the wet area.
It is not a swamp. It is grassy with a number of healthy trees on the
property, typical of the Pacific Northwest. We have electricity. This
is all on a "water access only" island in the Gulf Islands of British
Columbia, Canada. Even bringing in a load of gravel or drain rock gets
logistically difficult , and expensive. Ideas? Web links? Reference
texts? Thanks for helping!!

Hi, 

It sounds as if the problem is a result of the long rainy season in
your area ending up with saturated soil.

In brief you have two alternatives. The first would be a surface
drainage system done by altering the landscape and building a some
type of drainage ditch. This solution is normally used for clay soils
because they are typically poor drainage mediums.

The other solution is a subsurface drainage system, installing some
type of underground pipe system that moves the water away from the
area. This approach is usually associated with sandy or silty soil
because they are normally very good drainage mediums and you need
extra help.

Of course, there's no easy answer to your specific problem. At best
there are a variety of alternatives. To get a more accurate reading of
your particular water drainage problem, I would suggest the Vancouver
GeoMap
http://sts.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/page1/urban/geomap/
It advertises itself as 
"The purpose of GeoMap Vancouver is to show the surface distribution
of these materials and to summarize material characteristics that are
relevant to engineering, the environment, and land-use planning."

The Washington State Ecology Department has a detailed section on
managing water drainage on coastal bluffs. There are 12 types of
drainage systems discussed, each with different cost factors.
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/pubs/95-107/intro.html

Closer to home, Environment Canada has a written series for Managing
Excess Water.
http://res2.agr.ca/research-recherche/science/Healthy_Water/e10.html
The foucs is agricultural drainage, however, it does provide very good
generalized information.

When you digest this basic information, perhaps the next step would be
to consult some construction people in the area. They will know more
about the specifics of your problem.
http://www.gulfislands.com/Construction.asp

Also, the website, Gulf Islands Trust provides a good deal of
construction information, or how to obtain it, on their website. They
also provide many contact points where you can get further
information.
http://www.islandstrust.bc.ca/

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