Looked like a 5' pimple

[KirbysLawn]

Today while mowing a lawn we spoted a large 5' round mound in the lawn. When I walked over to it and pressed on it, it shook like jelly. I stood on it and it was like I was standing on a pitchers mound.

I got my rake out and used the handle to puncture the turf and release the water. No irrigation heads are there and it's not on a septic system.

Anyone have other suggestions on what will cause this build-up of water under the turf?

[smalltime]

Maybe a water main or sewage pipe leak? How close is it to a building? Could be runoff from downspouts. My playground area at my house has a drain pipe ending in the middle of it under the mulch. It sinks though.

Steve

[joshua]

i seen that once before, after a very big storm, the mound was about 3' by 3' and a foot high. it was long ago and didn't know what it was until after i seen it. very odd

[Phishook]

What type of soil was it?

Muck can absorb water and swell.

There's lots of farm ground with muck pocks up here. Odd stuff, you can feel someone jump 30' away.

Saw a large backhoe sink in about 15 feet while ditch digging.

[awm]

glad u still around . sounds like u might have been standing on an alien or mabe alien ****..u didnt feel nothin enter your body did ya.. i done seen that on tv,so u got to be careful.:D :D .
5 ft and jelly like ,never seen that ray.
u see another one take a picture.:)

[SprinklerGuy]

Is the water clean?

There doesn't really need to be a lawn head around there for the pipe to go through that spot. My guess would be that it is a water leak....sprinkler or otherwise.

[JasperStorm]

90% of the time I encounter a "boil" like the one you discovered, it's a buried head. One time, I turned on a system at an entry boulevard to a residential neighborhood and had a mound that looked just like a coffin that was buried too shallow (3'x6'). Although it took awhile to find, I located a Hunter PGP, 18" down, pointing towards China (nice install!)
Another "boil" in the same general vicinity was a lateral cut through by the Public Works Dept. while installing a traffic signal. Their duct tape stuffed into the end of the 1 1/2" line just didn't hold (guess that they didn't know you're supposed to use primer on duct tape stuffed into lines over 1"!)

[KirbysLawn]

Let's see if I can answer all those:


The hump was in the middle of the lawn

No rain for 2 weeks so downspouts are out

No sprinkler heads that we can find

Water was "dirty"

Soil is clay

[MJB]

I've seen this happen several times, each time it was a water line for the sprinkler system that was leaking and pushing up the turf.

[bob]

Sound like a leak in a water line. I've had them were the lawn kind of "floats" on top of th leak. Call the utility company.

[gusbuster]

Without seeing it, it's a guessing game.
My guess[list=1]
broken water line
possible sewer line
[/list=1]
Good indicator if sewer line, is the grass more green than the surrounding area?? We do produce urea.

Sorry if this grosses you guys\gals out but this is based on personal experiences.

John

[John DiMartino]

Ive seen this many times,weve had similar bubbles 30 ft from broken water lines,especially in clay soil,the water cant go down,so it goes sidewys,and up.I had one that was about 4 ft high in the center,and 25 ft around,we had a 1 1/2" feed line at 95 PSI break right under it,and it was 15 minutes before we seen the bubble.It was huge,and took 2 days to go away fully.