French Drain Installation in Menifee

French Drain Installation questions from Menifee customers

Where can a French drain legally discharge on a Menifee lot?

Menifee's grading regulations require drainage facilities to carry stormwater runoff to the nearest practicable drainage way approved by the City Engineer or Public Works Director, with measures to prevent erosion at the discharge point. On a typical tract lot that endpoint is the street. Because the outlet governs the invert, the discharge point has to be settled before the trench line is drawn, not after.

Is a dry well a workable substitute for a French drain here?

It depends on what the ground will accept. A hydrology report for a Menifee tentative tract classified site soils as Hydrologic Soil Group D, the slowest infiltration class, and an environmental report for the Menifee Valley Specific Plan described compacted fill over shallow dense formational soils with very low permeability. A sealed disposal pit in soil like that has nowhere to send water, so a gravity conveyance line does the work instead.

Does a French drain in Quail Valley behave differently than one in a newer Menifee tract?

Yes. The Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board attributed Quail Valley's septic failures to high groundwater, poor soil conditions and shallow impermeable strata. A trench cut into seasonally saturated ground fills from below as well as from above, so outlet elevation and pipe fall matter more there than on a graded pad with a street outlet.

What should I have ready before asking about a French drain in Menifee?

Whether the lot is in Quail Valley or a newer tract, where the water collects and for how long, whether anything has been built across the side-yard route, and where any downspouts end. A raised bed or a pad of fill across a drainage route is a common reason a backyard stays wet. Photos taken during or after rain help. The Menifee guide on this site goes through the three lot situations and what the City's code asks for.

Does a French drain in Menifee need a grading permit?

It depends on the scope. The City's grading code, Section 7.90.030, requires a permit to place or remove more than 50 cubic yards of earth material, and it exempts some small excavations and fills, but the fill exemptions do not apply to a fill that obstructs a drainage course. Whether a specific job clears the line is the City of Menifee's decision, so ask before digging.