Running a Downspout to a French Drain

Downspouts can be the cause of soft spots or standing water in your yard. Pay attention to how much water each downspout you have is responsible for and you will most likely find one or two that need to be tied to a french drain.

This trough handles almost all the water coming off the back of this house. All of the water that runs through the upper trough pours onto the lower level. This main trough is funneling thousands of gallons of water through this downspout.

We have taken this downspout to a french drain by connecting a pop-up emitter to the downspout so it will sit on top of the filter fabric. This way the water will come out and end up in the grass with most, if not all, ending up in the french drain. We ran the french drain through the centre of the swale in the backyard to a catch basin.