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southern MN | My field is a sponge.
Without tile the sponge is sopping wet, pour an inch or 3 inches or 5 inches of water on top of it and the water runs off, no place to soak in.
Put in pattern tile, and my field, the sponge, drains out the excess water over a 2 week period. Or more. Water leaves slowly.
The sponge is half dry now.
It rains an inch, or three, the water soaks into the soil, into the sponge, and no longer pools runs off as rapidly as possible.
Over the next 2 weeks, the tile slowly drains out the sponge again.
Certainly changed the water flow, is that good or bad.
Now the water flows all month, with the runoff and peak flow less, the water flow spread out over a 2 week period.
Early tiling decades ago a lot of tile intakes were used, get rid of ponded water as fast as possible. Those indeed put more flow faster into peak water flow periods.
Most tiling now is pattern tile, which has the opposite effect. It spreads out the flow of water over time. Less peak flow, but it clears out the excess water from soil over time. Makes room for the next rainfall to soak into the ground some, instead of just pooling and flowing over the surface.
When I was a kid the ditch would flood our fields every couple of years. Acres of standing water for 2-4 days.
Of late we get a lot of rain, but the ditch seems to handle it better, much less high water back flowing through the tile.
There has been a lot, a whole lot, more pattern tile put in the past 2 decades.
Pattern tile slowly drains excess water from soil, making room for the next rain event to be less damaging, less runoff. To once again slowly drain off over time.
Paul | |
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Connersville In.
