A Drainage Design Workshop will be held in the Tech Center, Room 87, on the campus of the North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton on Feb. 23-24. The workshop is a collaborative effort by the University of Minnesota Extension, North Dakota State University Extension Service and South Dakota State Extension Service.
"The spring of 2009 and 2010 will be remembered for many years for the record flooding that took place in many parts of North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota," says Hans Kandel, NDSU Extension Service agronomist. "The persistent flooding, along with spring rains, resulted in many unplanted acres in this region. As a result, many farmers have become interested in controlling high water tables or excess water by using subsurface drainage."
The workshop is intended for farmers, landowners, consultants, drainage contractors, government agency staff, water resource managers or anyone
interested in a more complete understanding of the design principles and practices of tile drainage systems. The two-day event will start at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 23, and end at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The workshop will focus on the planning and designing of tile drainage systems for farm fields and be taught in a hands-on manner. It also will feature a great deal of discussion time.
Planning topics include legal aspects of drainage, basics of drainable soils, agronomic considerations, what to think about if considering doing your own tiling, land evaluation tools and regional rainfall trends.
The design topics begin with basic design considerations and progress through small-team projects. There will be several hands-on problem-solving examples covering basic design and layout principles, water flow calculations, tile spacing, sizing and tile grades. Design factors for lift stations and conservation drainage practices also will be discussed.
The registration fee is $200, which includes lunch, course materials and refreshments. Class size will be limited to 50 participants, so preregistration is required. Participants must register online at http://www.regonline.com/2011Subsurface by noon, Jan. 28. The fee after Jan. 28 is $225.
For more information, contact Scherer at (701) 231-7239 or thomas.scherer@ndsu.edu. Other contacts are Gary Sands, University of Minnesota Extension engineer, at (612) 625-4756 or grsands@umn.edu, and Chris Hay, South Dakota State Extension engineer, at (605) 688-5610 or
christopher.hay@sdstate.edu
