What is this pit used for?

Jerb322@lemmy.world to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 170 points –

At a farm in Wisconsin. Farm is big, but looks like it only houses large equipment.

50

RC car course

Speculating, but maybe a runoff pond/detention basin?

Looks like the asphalt slopes toward it which would direct stormwater into it. There's also no gutters on the building in the back, so that water would just hit the pavement and run off. There's also a pump-looking gizmo in the lower-right corner that appears to have a discharge hose going away from the structures on the property.

Or for propane tanks. They need to have an area underneath to catch the gas if they star leaking. And the bumps can be some kind of foundation for putting the tanks. It looks like it could hold two tanks next to each other.

But why the humps and the ladder?

I mean, the steps could be a safety device if you fell in since there's no safety rails around it. The humps are probably just sediment buildup.

Again, I'm speculating, but I've seen those kinds of basins before.

I've seen them too but never with humps and a ladder

It looks DIY, so I'm willing to accept the ladder. The humps are a bit of a mystery, but from the look of the dirt between the asphalt and the pond, I can see them being sediment buildup from the runoff. Not sure why they're in those configurations, though, but that'll have to remain a mystery for someone else to solve lol.

Probably just ordered too much gravel and put it somewhere and ended up with the humps. I agree though, looks very DIY.

Speculation but: Children.

If you have something that looks like a pool they’ll go swimming.

The ladder gets them out and the humps give them a place to stand in the middle to keep their heads above the water line. Their arms get tired very quickly.

It just doesn't jive at all for me. The humps are too clearly arranged and purposeful.

I was thinking the same. It looks like gravel.

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The element that makes me think no one has gotten it right are the stairs. People enter and exit this when it is full.

I am willing to wager internet points that this is for washing or fluid based differentiation of materials. The dividers structure would be some form of flow distribution control or cleanup system.

Possibly a slurry pond? The only pools like that I've seen on farms were all on dairies; and they dump the cow piss and shit in them. I've also seen above ground cess pools like this at some industrial factories in the boonies. Used to be a tarmic plant outside my hometown that used one.

Could be a hog house sewage slurry lagoon, I see what looks like a pump out on the far right corner. I'm not sure about the humps on the bottom, but they might control the current to avoid a whirlpool effect when pumping out the pond. Just guessing here.

This is almost certainly it. I agree those lumps on the bottom look intentionally designed to prevent sloshing when filling the pond

Yep it's a slurry lagoon aka as a stinking shit pond. Since it's unlined it leaks massive quantities of nitrates into the soil and water table.

The lumps in the sand are where they bury the bodies

Considering it's in Wisconsin, my vote is a DIY ice skating rink with the waterproof bottom removed for the summer

Parcour-pitfighting, Dana White's newest blunder.

possible maintenance on various large equipment?

You drive them into and then onto those pillow shapeed humps, giving you acees to their under carriage?

Oil changes, transmission work, etc..

You can't exact floor jack up a combine..

Pure speculation..

Maintenance on most large farm equipment is performed from the side. In a pinch, the undercarriage is also usually several feet off the ground at rest because it needs significantly more ground clearance than a road vehicle.

As for changing tires and such, actually you do floor jack up a combine. It's just a really beefy hydraulic jack.

A very small area for that and there would need to be an entrance or exit. The stairs look like they are in the way.

Animal bath?

I agree with this. There's some kind of pump on the bottom right which has to be for water.

I was going to say BMX or dirt bike practice course But the steps and the weird pump thing in the bottom right corner would get in the way.

they opened up that fucking pit and had the WALL OF DEATh, and now well... gotta do something with the leftovers.

rice farming?

seems like this is on a farm, this is a piece designed to be filled/emptied... not water tight so not really a fish thing

Definitely not rice. That’s farmed on huge fields and have (in USA at least) telltale levy lines which are used to control flooding the fields. Poke around in northeast Arkansas and you should find some.