Sub-Soil Drainage Installation

In early 2025 we were engaged by farming landowners to implement a comprehensive sub-soil drainage system across five critical paddocks. The goal was to address severe land constraints caused by a high water table and poor surface drainage.

This project was a strategic development, focused on increasing productivity and balancing economic returns with the cultural values of kaitiakitanga for long-term sustainability. The ultimate aim was to transform boggy, unproductive paddocks into reliable land that's useable year round, and offering more choices to its caretakers.

Our Scope of Work

The scope of work involved a precise, multi-stage process to design and install a sustainable drainage network.

Land Surveying and Design: Using a GPS base station and rover, a 3D model of the land topography was created to determine the outfall heights and figure out the optimal drainage direction. This data was used to design pipe lines with the required slope across five paddocks.
Precision Trenching: We carefully installed sub-soil drainage pipes deep enough to avoid being hit by the ripping required for paddock preparation. The trenching equipment was set up with laser-based grade control capabilities to ensure the trench bottom maintained the exact grade needed for effective water transfer, even in flat paddocks with minimum natural fall.
System Customisation: The design incorporated a mainline in one paddock where other lines flowed into, due to the varying heights of the land, demonstrating an adapted approach to complex topography.
Outfall and Integration: These pipes are now drawing the water table down and transferring it to an existing water course. The finished paddocks were immediately turned over and seeded by Powdrell Services.

Farm Challenges and Our Solutions

Challenges For The Farm: Specific Inundation and Productivity Issues

The client listed specific operational issues impacting the farm's bottom line:

Poor surface drainage, waterlogged soils, and surface pugging
Poor crop/pasture yields and survival, leading to higher crop losses and the extra cost of re-sowing
Reduced stocking rates, resulting in reduced lamb growth rates and overall kg/ha of meat grown in lambs and cattle

In addition, once we'd begun work, the team uncovered three old clay tile lines that were full of water and blocked. This indicated a long-standing, unresolved drainage issue that was impacting the land.

The discovery was a critical reminder that older systems have lifespans and can be the reason for unusable patches of land. Our modern, custom-built system was able to successfully replace and upgrade this legacy issue, ensuring a permanent and reliable flow, and returning the unusable patch in the middle of the paddock to full productivity.

Furthermore, our custom-built pipe-laying attachment fully encases the pipe in aggregate, which reduces sedimentation that leads to blockages. This significantly lengthens the lifespan of the Novaflow pipe.

Our Solution: Precision-Engineered Sub-Soil Drainage

The installation of the engineered system immediately removes the farm's vulnerability to Mother Nature. The precise placement of the pipes on a gradient ensures the water table is drawn down and away from the surface, mitigating surface flooding, eliminating pugging, and protecting the delicate soil structure for better crop and pasture establishment.

This strategic development for our clients was successfully executed, meaning sunken costs like crop loss and low production can be forgotten, while a reliable, high-yield asset can be enjoyed.

Benefits of Sub-Soil Drainage

By installing sub-soil drainage infrastructure that has been designed using GPS grading technology, landowners can enjoy:

Better Performing and Yielding Crops and Pastures
Increased Stock Production Rates (more kg/ha of meat grown)
Less Soil Structure Damage and reduced water logging
Increased Flexibility: The system creates flexibility and potential diversity within farming systems to pursue cash crops if needed, based on seasons and markets
Business Focus: spend time focusing on the business instead of worrying about flooded paddocks and damaged crops
Investment Security: Reduced vulnerability that allows capital to be focused on investments rather than damage control.

Get in touch with Sam to arrange a catch up to discuss how we can help your land thrive and prosper.

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