Daggett County officials seek gravity bypass to control groundwater at new clinic site

Daggett County Municipal Building Authority members heard on July 22 that construction crews have encountered more groundwater than expected at the new clinic and adjacent water treatment plant site, and staff told the authority a gravity bypass to a storm drain will likely be required to keep work moving.

A staff member who updated the authority said engineers, the contractor and county staff have visited the site and propose trenching a 6-inch perforated drain line, placed on roughly a 1% slope, from the front corner of the building to the storm drain in front of the courthouse. The excavation would remove some asphalt; the county would restore the surface and could combine that work with a larger overlay project if funding allows. "Gravity works," the staff member said when describing the preference for a passive bypass rather than relying on pumps.

The nut graf: the change would be a short-term fix to allow footings and foundation work to proceed and a longer-term first line of defense against groundwater; it would not replace footing and foundation drains planned beneath the slab or the…