johnny skeptical - 7/11/2018 22:19 Interesting....here the turn of the century installed drainage system, is starting to fail, the drainage ditches have been constantly maintained and in some instances improved, but the county mains are for the most overloaded, and starting to collapse.. Likewise here. It will be a cascading effect in the near future I believe. Especially so with the larger rain events which put a lot of pressure on old brittle clays For example a local drainage district has been studying a resolution to fix and upgrade a rather large main, to the tune of 1.6-8 million, the final cost hasn’t been really established, the estimated cost to the landowners is in the $800-1000/acre. They should feel lucky that they have been getting by for $.63/acre, that’s almost ridiculous. That friend I spoke to on the drainage board said we are lucky to be at only $5/acre on the increase. Our watershed is very simple, hence a lower cost to maintain. Other watersheds in the county with more issues, bigger systems and fewer options like you describe have a $10/acre bill, with likely increases in the near future. In some areas, it just ain't easy to move the water cheaply. Like I told the one other guy at the meeting who was there for a drain problem in town...….when everyone has water in their basement..... it becomes easier to understand why everyone needs to contribute. | 
Ditch assessments and watershed drainage from below revisited.
