Midland sits at about 327 feet in the Culpeper Basin, on what the County calls a former lakebed. The U.S. Geological Survey’s groundwater map for Fauquier describes the basin’s water table as shallow. That is why a pit here can run long after a storm: it isn’t catching a one-time surge, it’s draining a footing that sits close to the water. The Census doesn’t ask about basements, so the pits can’t be counted among ZIP 22728’s 1,066 owner homes, but a house with a cellar or basement here is working against that water table.
Marsh Run has a floodplain along the village’s southwest side and Licking Run along its northeast. On August 10, 2022, Marsh Run came out of its banks and high water closed Route 610 in Midland. A volunteer rain gauge a few miles south-southwest, near Remington, puts a normal year at about 46 inches. Rain on ground that is already full has one place left to go, and that is the footing drain and then the pit.
The houses tell you how long a pump has been at it. About three in ten owner homes in the ZIP went up between 1980 and 1999, a little under one in four since 2000, and a bit over one in five before 1960. The oldest are the wood-frame village houses the County dates to 1880 through 1910, with cellars cut long before anyone thought of a pump. A cellar that old may have a pit that was added later, so the size of the pit is worth a look when the pump comes out.
Wind takes Midland’s power, and the airport keeps the record. Its weather station measured a 74 mph gust on August 13, 2021, as trees several feet thick came up by the roots near Midland Road and Airport Road, and two weeks later a large tree landed on wires on Rogues Road. A pump on household power stops with the lights, and storms that bring the wind bring the rain. A battery backup covers that gap. It sits on the extras list, so its price is on paper before any work begins.