Looks like spring has finally sprung and now is a good time of year to inspect fields for winter damage, tile blowouts, gully erosion and wet spots that were not evident last fall.

NRCS can help correct all of these problems with either technical or financial assistance.

Gully erosion from road culverts in pasture or crop fields is best corrected with a surface inlet to take away small storm events and snow melt with a grassed waterway sized to handle a specific storm event.

Depending on the site conditions the surface inlet can either be a drop box or stand pipe with a retention basin. These options are best when you have a small storm event or quick runoff where the purpose is to retain the rain event in the basin or drop box before overtopping and discharging down the grassed waterway.

Another option is a blind inlet — a cross channel of large stone, designed to cut off spring flow or snow melt.

These are ideal in areas that receive little maintenance or close to tree lines where grass, leaves and other debris can cover the area but will remain functional as the voids in the larger stone still provide water access.

In all scenarios a 6-inch drain line should be the largest pipe installed. It’s the most economical pipe to install. An 8-inch or larger pipe is very expensive to install and doesn’t provide any additional drainage benefit to justify the added cost. The 4-inch pipe, while cheaper, is very limited on handling storm events and if not installed correctly can fail quickly.

Drop boxes and stand pipes require additional maintenance and should be installed where they can be easily monitored and cleaned as necessary.

While the most expensive, drop boxes are the best solution where you have heavy road runoff and sedimentation allowing most material to fall out before entering the pipe and should be cleaned periodically to remove the sediment.

A grassed waterway should be installed immediately below these structures in all these cases and should be designed for a 10-year storm event; which for Butler County is around 4 inches of rain in a 24 hour period.

The overall dimensions of the waterway vary based on slope and site conditions. A good rule of thumb, however, is 30-foot-by-1-foot with the key being to ensure all water draining to the waterway can enter the waterway at any given point.

Having the edges of the waterway higher than the ground around it can cause concentrated flow adjacent to the waterway.

For tile drain repair, care should be taken to identify the real reason for a failure or blowout. Nine times out of 10 a plugged outlet is the cause of failures upstream, so investigating the outlet pipe and ensuring a free flowing outlet will help with future problems.

To make field repairs of drainage systems, the area needs to be excavated and continued up and downslope until good, clean sections of pipe can be found.

In old terra cotta systems this sometimes is not be possible.

In those cases or if heavy spring flow is found, a trunk section of 4-inch plastic pipe should be installed adjacent to the repaired line bedding the entire area heavily with gravel.

To make the repair, fernco fittings should be used to connect the new section to the existing line.

Using tile tape or just fitting a new section of pipe over the existing line may work but can fail when the ground settles around the pipe.

In all cases, if you participate in any USDA programs, a wetland determination should be completed any time you are clearing land for production or repairing an existing drainage system or installing a new one.

With increased spot checks and annually updated imagery, it’s best to ask permission rather than forgiveness in these cases. These determinations are straight forward and are typically completed in the office quickly.

Those interested in getting more information to fix problem areas, finding out about financial assistance or completing a determination should contact our office.

Andy Gaver is a conservationist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Butler County.