Wetland means Water

We live in a wetland. The area is full of spring fed ponds (we have two) and creeks, both natural and man made for drainage. The man made creeks are old. They never dry up and are impossible to distinguish from the natural creeks.

When we were thinking of buying this house sixteen years ago, I was apprehensive about all the water.

An intelligent fellow worker with a home on this road talked to me about life in a wetland. He summed it up like this: "It's different. It's not bad, just different."

He was right. The houses here were planned and built to avoid water problems. We have above ground septic systems.

In the low areas, the ground water is only a few feet underground. I'm not sure the Road Commission or the construction firm hired by the Road Commission understands our wetland.

Friday afternoon the bulldozer started digging a trench for the new part of the roadbed.

The trench hasn't reached our frontage yet, so I missed most of the entertainment when the water started seeping in and the bulldozer got stuck. I heard that it took him some time and effort to haul the bulldozer out with his track hoe.

Once the bulldozer was out, he parked it and went home early.


The trench is five feet deep, deeper than it looks in the picture.

By Saturday afternoon the water averaged about a foot deep. It would be deeper if SW Michigan wasn't suffering a Level 2 drought.


Saturday night and Sunday morning we got some much needed rain.

When I drove to church Sunday morning, the trench water was almost up to road level.

Later in the day when this picture was taken, the trench had about three feet of water in it. The side of the road next to the trench is mush.

It's still rainy today. The trench water is overflowing into a nearby creek. None of the road workers has been seen. The neighborhood is anxiously waiting to see what happens next.