Designing Two-Stage Agricultural Drainage Ditches

Ward, Alexandra M.; Mecklenburg, Dan; Powell, George E.; Brown, Linda; Jayakaran, Anand D.

doi:10.13031/2013.15745

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…The depth of a conventional drainage ditch is usually designed to carry a flow with a recurrence interval from 5 to 100years. 5 The trapezoidal shape of conventional drainage ditches can result in an over-widened channel bottom. 6 A wide channel bottom greatly reduces flow velocity in the channel during low flow conditions, which leads to sediment aggradation.…”

Section: Conventional Vs Two-stage Ditchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…11,13,14 Improved fish habitat is expected because of improved sediment sorting, with fine materials either carried away by the low-flow channel or deposited on the benches, and coarse materials are allowed to settle in the channel bed, as well as the presence of deeper water during low-flow periods. 5,11,14 The main value of a two-stage ditch is increased stability in the ditch system. This is mainly embodied in reduced ditch cleanout costs associated with sediment deposition.…”

Section: Conventional Vs Two-stage Ditchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is mainly embodied in reduced ditch cleanout costs associated with sediment deposition. 4,5,14 Additionally, a reduction in erosive forces at the toe of the outer ditch bank is expected, as water will usually be confined to the low-flow channel. 5 Increased stability at the toe of the ditch will also likely reduce the potential for sloughing and mass wasting on the outside ditch banks.…”

Section: Conventional Vs Two-stage Ditchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…4,5,14 Additionally, a reduction in erosive forces at the toe of the outer ditch bank is expected, as water will usually be confined to the low-flow channel. 5 Increased stability at the toe of the ditch will also likely reduce the potential for sloughing and mass wasting on the outside ditch banks. This design is also wider than the traditional design and can provide storage during storm events depending on the downstream control (e.g.…”

Section: Conventional Vs Two-stage Ditchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…22 The elevation and size of the benches should be based on data collection and analyses associated with a weight-ofevidence approach; ideally, the analysis should use published regional hydraulic geometry relationships for agricultural ditches, or the development and use of these relationships to provide estimates of the expected inset channel dimensions. 5,12 These relationships relate drainage area to the width, depth and cross-sectional area of the inset channel that might naturally occur in the ditch. In the area, published regional relationships for natural streams may have larger dimensions than those for ditches and their use in ditches might result in an inset channel that could be too wide to effectively transport the sediment load.…”

Section: Sizing a Two-stage Ditchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Design and construction of an alternative drainage ditch system

Kramer,

Peterson,

Krider

et al. 2019

IJH

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Water quality in agricultural watersheds is under greater scrutiny as hydrologic pathways are altered to increase the production of affordable food. Fertilizers are widely used in these watersheds to obtain desirable levels of nitrogen and phosphorus for optimal crop growth. Some of these nutrients are transported from the field to natural channel systems. Agricultural drainage ditches often provide an important pathway in this movement of nutrients. Ditches have been traditionally designed to remove water from agricultural lands. Little attention has been placed on alternative designs that are inherently more stable, assimilate nutrients and provide healthy ecosystems. In 2009, 2000m of a conventional drainage ditch in southern Minnesota was converted to an alternative drainage system with a two-stage channel, a rock trench, a rock inlet, and two linear treatment systems. These features not only increase ditch stability but also provide storage and attenuate sediment and excess nutrients. This paper discusses the design and construction of this alternative drainage system.

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Section: Conventional Vs Two-stage Ditchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conventional Vs Two-stage Ditchmentioning

confidence: 99%