Extension Notebook: Need for farm drainage, current problems

Farm drain tiles are vitally crucial to the success of Illinois crop production. These underground drainage systems help provide good soil-based crop growing conditions by removing excess water from the soil.

A balanced mixture of air, water and soil is crucial for plant health, as excessive moisture can impede growth.

Plant roots need oxygen, which is provided by air spaces within the soil, and when these spaces are filled with water, roots can suffocate.

A proper balance of air and water is essential for healthy crops. Excess water will deprive roots of oxygen.

As a major producer of corn and soybeans, Illinois requires a good balance of air and water in the soil.

Many soils in Illinois are exceptional at producing high-yielding crops when properly drained of excess water. Early settlers in Illinois often avoided the flat black soil areas, as they were swampy.

Cultivating Swamps

The invention of the cast-iron farm plow changed the Illinois landscape. This 1837 invention that could till through the wet, heavy clay prairie soils was a big step toward producing grain in much of Illinois.

The 1850 Swamplands Act enabled the federal government to promote the development of these acres as farmland.

The act provided the political push for large-scale drainage of the wetlands, which allowed the rapid conversion of millions of acres of Illinois’ prairie swamps to agricultural fields.

The act allocated wetlands and swamps to 15 states, including Illinois, for conversion to agricultural use, stipulating that the proceeds from land sales fund the necessary drainage systems for agricultural production, a critical national requirement.

These wetlands and swamps required group drainage projects to make the land farmable to meet changing economics.

The state of Illinois passed laws regarding drainage and the rights of landholders to build these drainage systems.

The Levee Act of 1879 and the Farm Drainage Act of 1885 allowed the organization, financing and operation of drainage districts, which became taxing government bodies.

The mass drainage of Illinois land could now enable tile drains to cross neighboring land to move water from wetlands into streams and rivers.

The financial burden of constructing and maintaining drainage ditches led to disagreements among landowners, which were eventually settled through the court system.

Constructed Ditches, Connected Tiles

These systems involved digging ditches up to 60 feet wide and over 10 feet deep, stretching for miles. Clay tiles lined up together to drain excess water from farm fields to the constructed ditches, and as the land drained, more agricultural production occurred.

Small gaps between in-line tiles let water move from the wet soils into the drainage system. Illinois led the way in draining these land types, making the state one of the largest in agricultural production.

In the early years of establishing drainage tile systems, installation was by hand or with horsepower assistance. By the 1920s, powered trenching machines increased the size and effectiveness of farm tiling projects.

The advent of long-length tile resulted in increased use of field drainage tile in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Tiling large fields is a widespread practice today. Drainage systems and methods of installation rapidly changed with advancing technology.

Why Drainage Improvements Are Needed

Older clay tile systems are still in operation, draining Illinois farmland, and many of these farm drainage systems are becoming old and inefficient.

These older systems do break down and require repairs. They are often undersized, inadequate, and too far apart to drain a field for modern optimum crop production.

Originally, tile lines ran from wet area to wet area with no distinct pattern. Draining these spots helped remove wet areas in the fields with little or no yield. However, crop damage resulting in reduced yield begins before the damage is visible.

Eventually, the system installation included a pattern to drain whole fields or larger areas of a field beyond just where water was standing.

Often, fields do not have drainage ditches or streams bordering them. Such fields require larger tile mains to remove the excess water over long distances to an outlet.

Long tile mains, funded and maintained by drainage districts, taxable entities, were essential for moving water across vast distances of neighboring fields, sometimes spanning miles.

Pattern tile projects across whole fields using clay tiles became more common in the 1950s and 1970s. The tile lines called laterals were often 120 to 150 feet apart, called centers, which ran to larger tiles and then to a ditch or stream or to a large district tile, which would then take the water across neighboring fields to the outlets, ditches and streams.

Today, drainage systems are built with laterals closer together — 70-foot centers are common and can be as close as 30 to 40 feet in wet and hard-to-drain areas.

Today’s drainage systems utilize plastic tile lines with perforated slits, enhancing water movement from the soil compared to traditional clay tiles. The older clay tiles relied on small gaps between each tile for water to enter the tile line.

Aging Drainage Systems

Older farm drainage systems before the 1980s used clay or concrete tiles, where water would enter the tile line in the small gaps between tiles.

The clay tile systems were inefficient due to limited water entry spaces. The drainage districts’ main drains are aging, and many are also significantly undersized in capacity.

Illinois drainage districts face significant financial challenges in repairing and replacing aging main drains, many over a century old.

Furthermore, these districts struggle with the ongoing maintenance of artificial drainage ditches, requiring the removal of displaced soil and invasive trees that compromise the integrity of the systems.

Kevin Brooks is a farm business management and marketing educator serving Fulton, Mason, Peoria and Tazewell counties for University of Illinois Extension.