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E.
Infrastructure
County Maintained
Ditches
Ditches are constructed to remove excess water from the land especially
during rain events or snow melts. Ditches
and other drainage outlets provide farmers with the ability to farm land that
would normally be considered unproductive. Within
the Darby Watershed, a large number of ditches exist, all with varying levels of
maintenance. A considerable number
of these ditches are managed and maintained by the county (See Map
6). The actions performed on
these ditches are documented by each county (See Figure 9).
Each year all county maintained ditches are evaluated on an individual
basis to determine the necessary action to maintain the functionality of the
drainage ditch. Typically
maintenance programs include mowing, spraying, and removing vegetation from the
stream channel to allow for an efficient removal of water.
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Figure 9: Recent
Maintenance on County Petitioned Ditches
|
|
County
|
Number
of
Ditches
|
Easement
Distance
|
Recent
Actions
|
|
Pickaway
|
3
|
10
ft.
|
Greenbriar
– maintained through snag removal, brush cleared, spray as needed
Georges Run
– channel excavated, maintained through snag removal, brush cleared,
spray as needed
Spring Water
– cleared of trash and a log jam in 1999.
Maintained through snag removal, brush cleared, sprayed as needed
|
|
Champaign
|
4
|
10
ft.
|
Jumping Run
– minor cleaning, mowing, and spraying
McMullen Ditch
– mow entire ditch, clean bottom of channel, spraying, place rip-rap to
stabilize banks as needed.
Fullington Ditch
– mowing, brush/vegetation control, repair washes, and place rip rap to
control steep gravelly slopes, reconstruct and reshape channel and berm at
different locations.
Crowder Ditch
– rip-rap at outlet of ditch to Glendenning Rd., replace old failing tile, mowing and spraying
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|
Union
|
8
|
15
ft.
|
All Ditches
– either sprayed or mowed each year.
Prairie Run
– Switch Grass planted in 2001.
|
|
Madison
|
58
|
10
ft.
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All Ditches
- “Dig-Out,” to re-establish 4 ft. depth every 10-15 years the
material is put back on farm land on a temporary 75 ft. easement
- mow or spray twice a year
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The following table summarizes all county maintained ditches and the total
length in miles. (See Figure 10).
Madison
County
has one of the largest number of maintained ditches in the state, and has a
total of 24 within the watershed.
Union
County
has a total of eight maintained ditches while
Champaign
County
has four and
Pickaway
County
has three.
Logan
County
has no maintained ditches in the watershed and
Franklin
County
does not maintain any ditches at the present time (See Appendix D for a
complete inventory of Ditches).
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Figure
10:
County Maintained Ditches
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County
|
Number
|
Miles
|
Notes
|
|
Champaign
|
4
|
7.47
|
|
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Madison
|
24
|
48.58
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Estimation
based on GIS data
|
|
Pickaway
|
3
|
4.92
|
|
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Union
|
8
|
17.21
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|
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Totals
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39
|
78.18
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