A ground rod where a drain needs to go

Question

My house sits on a hill, and the gutters don't properly drain. As a result, I'm digging a new drain along the side of the house to re-route the water.

However, while digging the drain, I came upon a grounding rod just a few inches below the surface. It's directly in the path of where I need to put the drain.

Should I re-route the drain, or try to move the grounding rod?

I should say, I do have the option to move the drain away from the house a bit, too. That might solve my problem, but the drain is doubling-up as a patio drain so it would require a fairly sharp bend to accomplish that.

Edit: sorry, not a french drain. Had french drains on the brain. Just a regular buried drain.

Answer 1

It really doesn't matter from a technical standpoint which choice you make, assuming all installations are done properly. Do whatever is easiest for your situation. "Proper installation" is key though, only use proper drainage ells to make turns, not vent ells, and do not add additional bends to get around obstacles that can be relocated. Also note that ground rods can be bent out of the way (or driven deeper as longneck suggests) without diminishing their effectiveness, just be careful to not damage the wire connection.