Now that the snow is finally melting and warmer weather is here, it’s a good time to take a look at your crop fields for any damage the winter and snow melt may have caused with gully erosion or tile blowouts.

If you have some erosion from runoff or springs and seeps, a grassed waterway in conjunction with subsurface drainage or maybe even a water control structure is good way to control these areas so they don’t increase as you cross them with your field operations.

In those situations where a road culvert is outletting into a crop or pasture field, a drop box and grassed waterway is a good way to handle small and large storm events.

Our office can design and help construct these practices, but in many cases a plow skip or natural waterway is all that is needed. These areas should be at least 30 feet wide and have good vegetation growing throughout the year.

Our office can also provide financial assistance to construct grassed waterways in areas that need a little more work or have associated practices like drainage and water control practices.

Our practices are designed for specific storm events and can be installed very economically and are a big benefit where off field water issues are causing erosion problems.

For those with drainage issues, a simple blowout can be fixed by making a clean connection to both ends of pipe in the affected area.

If the old line is terracotta, a fernco fitting should be used to join the two pipe sections and the area should be heavily bed in gravel. If the existing pipe is tubing, a manufactured coupler should be used with pipe tape, and bed the area heavily with gravel.

Sometimes when excavating the area the upstream pipe still has a lot of sediment. In these cases, a new section of pipe should be laid beside the existing line and not connected, and bed the area heavily with gravel to allow good water flow from one pipe to the other.

Overall, blowouts are caused by changes in water pressure as the drain line fills and then empties with water. During heavy storm events or saturated soil conditions, the line is running above capacity causing water to scour the areas around the pipe loosening the soil and creating the blowouts as the pressure subsides.

Typically, these problems are due to outlet blockages either from plugged outlet pipes or a crushed line near the outlet. While you can fix a blowout, these areas will reappear if the root of the problem isn’t fixed, and it’s best to start at the outlet pipe and work your way up the drain line looking for issues.

If you would like technical assistance in laying out waterways or drainage repair, feel free to contact our office at 724-482-4800, Ext. 3.

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