Trench drain

I'll be installing a trench drain in my backyard sometime this year. I'm getting a picture of what it will look like, what I'll need, etc. before I pull the trigger and do this thing. I've pretty much had my mind made up for a while now of ehat I needed and what it would take until a recent rain that made me realize something that I had not considered.....

The ditch in the front of the house that I'd planned to run my 4" PVC pipe from the trench drain to fills with water. The ditch does flow, but very slowly. It has standing water in it for a day or two until all the water can evacuate the ditch and ultimately run off into the creek.

My question being: will my 4" PVC pipe that will be running from the end of the trench drain in the backyard and running to the front yard ditch be able to drain water into a ditch that has standing water? i.e. Can a gravity drain pipe still function underwater? It seems to me that unless the water coming from the pipe were pressurized, the pipe won't be able to drain water properly because the pipe itself is underwater. Won't the pipe just backup and the trench drain be useless? I may be going back to the drawing board, ya'll!!

Thanks

 

water seeks its own level & still runs downhill,,, water from a higher elevation will drain to a lower elevation even if the pipe's underwater so you're fine obviously IF they're both at the same elevation ( pond level ), no drainage can occur,,, does the front ditch drain OR is the water just saturating the surrounding soil ?

 

That's awesome news! I could make it work another way if it did not drain while submerged, but my original plan, I think, is much better. Haha

The trench drain is definitely higher than the end of the drainage pipe will be. I don't know by how much, but I'd say a foot or so. There's a pretty (natural) dramatic slope from east to west, all ultimately heading towards a creek.

The front ditch, ah, it's hard to really say. I imagine a lot DOES saturate into the soil, but I do think that it drains, however very slowly. Because the water will be a foot deep the day it rains and then two days later there's no standing water, just mud. I wish the city would come out and regrade it. The ditches have silted in badly over the years. I'll be renting a backhoe to do the trench drain with amongst several other things. IF I have time I may try to scoop out in front of the culverts to help drainage...

 

' awesome ' news that water runs downhill ? thought most folk knew that well before the time of forums