Supervisors to consider ditch clean out request

The Boone County Board of Supervisors will consider a request for main open ditch repairs in Drainage District No. 222 during a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. March 24 in the Boone County Courthouse.

In August, a petition was filed with the board of supervisors requesting work be done on the existing open main ditch to relieve a backup of water at the main outlet. The open ditch is located in section 15 of Colfax Township in the eastern part of the county near W Avenue and 250th Street.

Its an open ditch that allows water to flow into a creek, Boone County Engineer Scott Kruse said. Its become silted and the water backs up to the tile. The water stands at the tile all the time, so we would dig it out if the supervisors approve the request.

By state law, the county is required to keep the drainage ditch as close to original condition as possible, Kruse said. The board, however, is not required by law to hold a public hearing on the request for repairs but, Kruse said, they will have this one so everyone has the opportunity to understand the details of the cleanout.

The board of supervisors is the trustee of county drainage districts, Kruse said, adding that if property owners dont want to pay for the cost of the repair, the work may or may not be done, depending on what the supervisors decide.

In September, the board appointed ISG, a civil engineering group based in Algona, to do the preliminary survey and study of the open ditch and compile a report. Last month, Kent Rode, ISGs principal, senior civil engineer, presented the multi-page report, complete with maps, tables, photographs and construction plans for open ditch repairs, to the supervisors, who officially accepted it.

Property owners in the district would be billed accordingly for the work, which the ISG report estimated to be $155,500. About 2,500 feet of the ditch, which is about 10 feet wide at its bottom, would be cleaned out by a backhoe. The ditchs slopes would be reshaped so they could be seeded with grass, Kruse said.

ISGs survey found the open ditch from Worrell Creek to the main tile outlet at the facility bulkheadfilled with as much as four feet of sediment, which causes a flow restriction of the main tile. The sedimentation causes the main tile to become submerged and backup.

Fieldwork confirmed the need for drainage relief in the district, the report said. It recommended cleaning the open ditch from the outlet at Worrell Creek to the main tile drop structure and restore its original slope, shape and capacity.

According to the report, there are about 2,215 acres within the existing watershed and about 1,611 acres are currently assessed for the benefits on the existing main ditch, which goes into Worrell Creek. The creek flows southeast to Squaw Creek, the South Skunk River and eventually drains into the Mississippi River. The report states the drainage district records are mostly complete, including documents such as the original plans and plat for the original drain tile and ditch construction. The total length of the open ditch and surface channel is about 18,970 feet.

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Supervisors to consider ditch clean out request