How to Dewater Your Construction Site

There are a number of jobs that need to be done on a construction site before you can get to the actual construction of a building, road, or home. Due to the accrual of surface water and groundwater, most construction sites require dewatering before you can bring your equipment onto the site safely without any concern for sinking or flooding. This quick guide will tell you what you need to know about dewatering your site.

Why Is Dewatering My Site Important?

You can’t excavate a site that has significant water pooling on the surface or underground. Your equipment could sink into a wet site and become mired in place. Also, digging into the soil when it’s saturated can cause the area to flood, which is dangerous to you and your workers. If you take the time to drain the water from your construction site, you’ll make it much safer and less prone to accidents.

How to Dewater

You can either dig drainage channels to allow water to flow away from the site to a specified discharge point, or you can use siphons or water pumps. Surface water can be removed with a machine that has a bucket for scooping up the water and depositing it somewhere else. Groundwater can be drained using a dewatering pump to lower the table before you start excavating.

Necessary Precautions

Always make sure you have a permit to dewater your site before you begin. You don’t want to cause erosion when you dewater your site, so avoid discharging or pumping water onto the slopes around the site. You should also wait for a dry and sunny day to do your dewatering, as a rainy day will only make it more difficult and ruin the work you’re doing as you do it. Finally, you’ll need to make sure that the water you’re removing is disposed of properly if it’s contaminated with chemicals or oil.

When you’re ready to buy equipment, come see us at our Lockport, NY, to check out our selection of new and used construction equipment for sale. Talk to one of our sales team members about our financing options if you’d like to use them. Upstate Equipment serves our New York customers in the cities of Buffalo and Amherst.