By Brian Hefty: A few weeks ago, I got a letter from our county that they were potentially going to change the requirements for tiling permits here. I want to show some of the case I made before the County Commission to help get this stopped. Now, I’m not saying there shouldn’t be any restrictions on tiling or that it shouldn’t be done right, but before any decisions one way or the other should be made, I believe people should at least understand a few things about tiling.

1) We’re NOT draining wetlands. The NRCS doesn’t allow us to do that. What we’re talking about here is FIELD SITUATIONS where the soil holds too much water too long. In many cases, where we’re tiling never even has standing water, so obviously ducks aren’t living there anyway.

2) By installing tile we help REDUCE EROSION! Many studies have proven this over the years, including Bottcher in 1981, Skaggs in ’82, and Istok and Killing in ’83.

3) Phosphorus is the limiting factor for algae growth in lakes and rivers. In other words, add P and algae increases. Since P is virtually immobile in soil, about the only way it gets into water is through soil movement. Reduce erosion and you reduce phosphorus in water, meaning less algae and cleaner water.

4) In soils that are 100% saturated (untiled), where is rain forced to go? Well, it has to run off if it can’t soak in. When it runs off, it can carry soil, chemical, and fertilizer. However, when excess water has been removed by tiling, now rain can soak in, meaning less runoff and erosion. Plus, when water soaks in, soil can
do its natural job which is to FILTER that water. By the time the water reaches the tile, based on our water quality studies and those of many others, that water is much cleaner…often even meeting drinking-water quality standards.

5) Peak waterfl ow is reduced. Look at the study by Zucker and Brown in 1998, or many others. Peak waterflow in a watershed is often REDUCED by 15 to 30% through proper tiling. In other words, there is LESS fl ooding, rather than more when tiling is done and done right. This makes perfect sense, because again, if ground is 100% saturated, water has nowhere to go but off the fi eld. Tile slowly removes excess
water only if the water table in the fIeld rises above the level of the tile. Then, when snowmelt occurs or rain hits, that water can soak into the ground rather than cause flooding downstream.

In summary, most of the misconceptions about tiling are that it will pollute the water, lead to fl ooding, cause erosion, hurt downstream property values, and that
farmers are draining wetlands. When the truth is told and SCIENCE is allowed to render its verdict, it’s obvious that none of these things are true. Besides all this, don’t ever forget that proper drainage means MORE FOOD production for our growing world, MORE INCOME for farmers, and MORE TAX REVENUE for the counties
and states we live in.