Umn Drainage History

7/29/2019 Umn Drainage History

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History of Drainage Researchat the

University of Minnesota

Bruce N. Wilson

Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering

Unviversity of Minnesota


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Period: 1850 1920Pye vs Mankato (1887): Surface water is a common enemy...

1858 - Minnesota 1st drainage act

University StateU of M Established - 1851

Minnesota Statehood - 1858

Major Reorganization - 1868

1st Drainage Report - 1899

1st Drainage Bulletin - 1908

Ag Eng & Extension - 1909

Drainage Engineering - 1919

1877- Drainage approval township

1879 -Drainage approval county

1897 - State drainage commission

1919 - Drainage districts

Ag Experiment Station - 1885


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Period: 1920 1960Blue Earth (1940): Surface water is a common friend.

1931 - Drainage Commissioner withinDept. of Conservation & renamed

1941 - Renamed Water Resources andEngineering

Time

Tile Testing Project - 1921

Depth-Spacing Albert Lea - 1921

ASAE Cost-Analysis Paper-1923

Design Aids - 1924

Depth-Spacing 4 Locations - 1925

Water-Table Management - 1925

University State

Pumping Outlet - 1956 1955 - Watershed districts 1957 - 60% Land owners for petition


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Period: 1960 PresentMitsch and Gosselink (1986): Wetlands are .. the kidneys of the landscape

1991 - Wetland Conservation Act

Time

Plastic Tile Installation - 1960University State

Lamberton Plots - 1972

Waseca Plots - 1975

Drainage Simulation - 1980

Recent Research - 1990s

1961 - Conserve regional water

1971 - Civil actions allowed

1973 - Consider ecological impacts

1976 - Public water include wetlands


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Precipitation Twin Cities

Year

1850 1900 1950 2000

Precipitation

10

30

50

CumD

eparture

-80

-40

0

40

80

Average = 27.2 in

Departure


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0.00% 5.00% 10.00% 15.00% 20.00% 25.00% 30.00%

Prior to 1880

1900-1909

1920-1929

1940-1949

1960-1969

Percentage of Ditch Constructions

Blue Earth, Brown, Le Sueur, & Nicollet


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Experimental Farms


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J.T. Stewart


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H. B. Roe


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Topics

Installation

Materials

Water management for crops

Environmental impacts


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Ditching Machine - 1875

H.H. Gray, Middleville, MN


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Experimental Drainage System at Crookston

$5000 in 1903 and $4000 in 1904


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Hand Tools Usedfor Installation of

Tiles


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Hand Installation of Tiles at Crookston

3 ft depth - $2.42 per 100 ft, 4 ft - $3.15 per 100 ft


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Machine Trenching at Crookston

Average cost - $1.24 per 100 ft


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Junkin Ditcher - 1906


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Junkin Ditcher

Total wt = 60 tons

2 tons of coal per day


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St. Paul Campus - 1909 to 1910


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Ditches of bottom width = 2 ft, Depth = 3 to 4 ft

can usually be dug most cheaply by hand


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Hand Installation Common for Tile


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Design Charts

6 ft depth

14 inch tile:

90 hour per 100 ft

6 feet

14 inch


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Cost Estimates - 1923

15 farms from 1908 to 1921

Average value of tillable land = $166 /acre Average cost of drainage = $75/acre

Average savings = $91/acre


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Pumping Plants for Drainage Outlet


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Important Design:

Pump capacity

Small pump forseveral days is

better than large

pump for short

time


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Topics

Installation

Materials




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Tile Dating to 1 A.D.


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Tile Installed at Crookston - 1908

Hutchinson

Glencoe

Fertile

Mason City

Lengby


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Minnesota Legislature

Special Appropriationfor Causes of Failure

in Drain Tile

1921

D.G. Miller


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Sulfates of

Magnesium

and

Sodium inSubsurface

Water


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Cement Chemists and Engineers from Around the

World Examine Test Specimens After Exposure to

Sulfate Water


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Results

Clay

Resistant to soil acid and alkalies

Deteriorate from frost action

High-adsorption clay tile lack structural

strength

Concrete Low permeability - large strength

Low levels of tricalcium aluminate

High curing temperatures


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Minnesota Bearing


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Durability in

Acid Soils

50 variables

10,000 cylinders


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Plastic Mole Liner - Crookston (1960)


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Installation Machine


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Installation at Crookston, October, 1960


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Topics

Installation

Materials




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King, 1918

Time will come in the not distant future

when systems of tile ditches will be

designed and installed as a part of asystem for controlling soil water supply,

not simply as a means of removing

excess water ...


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Early Depth-Spacing Study - 1925

the lower and wetter areas a closeness of spacing of laterals the


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the lower and wetter areas ... a closeness of spacing of laterals, the

cost .. prohibitive, except use of surface inlets best results a

spacing of 50 to 60 feet ... in wetter spots. Roe - 1926

Surface Inlet Design - 1924


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Minnesota

DesignCurves

(1934)

C t ll d D i St d


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Controlled Drainage Study

1925 to 1930


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Field Layout


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6 Field Crops & 13 Truck Crops


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Water Depth Control System


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0

20

40

60

1.0-

1.5

1.5-

2.0

2.0-

2.5

2.5-

3.0

3.0-

3.5

3.5-

4.0

Depth of water table (ft)

AverageYie

ld(bu/ac)

Average Corn Yield


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Drainage on Forest Growth - 1929


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Topics

Installation

Materials




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Lamberton Drainage Plots - 1972


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0

40

80

120

20 112 224 448

Treatment (kg N/ha)

NO3-N(kg

N/ha)

1973 1974 1975

Impact of Fertilizer Rates - Lamberton Data


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Waseca Drainage Plots - 1975


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0

0.5

1

1.5

1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991

Year

Atraz

ineConcentrat

ion(g/L)

Moldboard plowNo-tillage

Impact of Cropping System - Waseca Data


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Simulation Model of Moore and Larson:

Data for 1957 to 1963

Includes surface inlets


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Depression 1Depression 2

Depression 3

Drainage Ditch

Simulation Impact of Drainage - 1979

Minnesota Model for Depressional Watersheds

(MNDW)


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Simulation Approaches

EvapotranspirationPrecipitation

Overland Flow

Water Table

Tile line

Stream

Channel

Moore, I.D. and C.L. Larson. 1979. Effects of Drainage Projects on Surface Runoff from Small

Depressional Watersheds in the North Central Region, WRRC Bulletin 99, Wat. Resour. Res.Center, Minneapolis, MN.

Si l ti A h


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Pre-drainage

Current

Channel Only

Maximum

Ag Production

0 1 2 3 4 5

Annual runoff in inches for the Little Sioux River

Moore, I.D. and C.L. Larson. 1979. Effects of Drainage Projects on Surface Runoff from Small




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Pre-drainage

Current

Channel Only

Maximum

Ag Production

0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200

Little Sioux River Peak Discharges in cfs, 30 May 1959Moore, I.D. and C.L. Larson. 1979. Effects of Drainage Projects on Surface Runoff from Small



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Summary

Long history of drainage research

Reflective of societal values

1st golden age - 1920s water removal

2nd golden age - 1990s water quality


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Questions?

Bruce WilsonProfessor

Dept. of Bioproducts & Biosystems Engineering

University of Minnesota

St. Paul, Minnesota

[email protected]

Documents

Umn Drainage History