On the way home from work, I decided to check out a drain I scouted a few weeks back. When I first found this drain, it was just a few days after the remains of Hurricane Charlie had made it’s way through the Ottawa area, and the water was very deep and moving very fast. I knew the drain was short, about 225m but I thought there might be some good storm drain junctions in the middle. So, I’ve been checking back every week to see if the water level had dropped enough.

Last evening the water was moving quite slow, but on closer look, it was still quite deep. The landscape around the outfall causes a natural dam and water level is not likely to get any lower. I decide what the hell, and I plunge in with the water quickly filling my boots.

The outfall pipe is an oval corrugated metal pipe about 5"6' tall, and since I am only 5'5" it was easy going. The pipe heads south up a slight incline for about 50 m before taking a sharp right (west) turn. The water level drops below the tops of my boots, but picks up speed. I’ve passed the bend and I’m sloshing up the pipe, totally soaked from the knees down.

I'm checking out the details of the pipe and can see the in-fall far ahead. Suddenly, some big brown furry thing moves and I catch a glimpse through the corner of my eye. I shine my light, and can only really see a big furry brown head and an eye staring back at me. I could tell it was not a sewer rat but I thought it might be a muskrat. I notice that it’s is in a large concrete area, and I think, if there is any interesting in this drain that’s where it will be. So, the "muskrat" isn’t moving, I want to go forward, but I don't want to get into a dispute over ownership with a possibly rabid "muskrat". I decide, my spot light is scarring it and keeping it from moving. I turn my light off and stay quite for a minute or two. Sure enough I can see the “muskrat” swimming upstream in the weak light from the in-fall. I turn my light back on and follow the “muskrat” up the pipe.

As I get to the concrete vault, the "muskrat" much farther ahead has to climb over rocks littering the bottom of the pipe, and I can see it’s tail, it's a beaver! Cool, a beaver in a drain, I think, is this a first for UE? At this point in the drain, I’m in the area where the beaver was when I first saw it, I notice there is a small RCP with a short slide into the main pipe. I look into the RCP and see that he/she has made a nest in it. Cool!

I examine the large concrete vault. It's about 15 feet by 15 feet, with a ledge on either side. Not bad, but no large storm drain connections. The remainder of the drain is a large RCP about 8 feet tall and 100m long. I can see the in-fall is covered with a grate, and is packed with wood debris, I know I’m not going out that way, besides the beaver is between me and the in-fall, so I decide not to disturb it any more and call the drain done.

Pretty good for a short drain.