Table of Resources
General Drainage
iGrow Drainage Calculators, a service of South Dakota State University Extension
Online Drainage Calculator, maintained by the Agricultural Drainage Program at the University of Minnesota
Drainage Design Tools , developed by the Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering department at Michigan State University
Conservation Drainage
10 Ways to Reduce Nitrogen Loads from Drained Cropland in the Midwest, a regional publication highlighting in-field and edge-of-field strategies for reducing nitrogen from tile-drained lands
Practices
NRCS National Handbook of Conservation Practices
Access the NRCS National Handbook of Conservation Practices to find out more information about a variety of conservation practice standards including: denitrifying bioreactors, drainage water management, saturated buffers, and more.
Controlled Drainage
Questions and Answers About Drainage Water Management for the Midwest, an 8-page publication answering 27 frequently asked questions about drainage water management for Midwest corn and soybean cropping systems.
Controlled Drainage Site Suitability Tool, a tool developed at Purdue University that identifies land in the Upper Midwestern United States that has a high probability of being suitable for controlled drainage
Saturated Buffers
Questions and Answers About Saturated Buffers for the Midwest, a regional publication that provides a broad overview of the benefits, costs, and other issues related to this practice.
Establishing and Managing Pollinator Habitat on Saturated Riparian Buffers, a publication discussing the use of saturated riparian buffers for planting pollinator habitat and provides information on site selection, preparation and establishment, management and seed mixes.
Cleaning Iowa’s Waters with Saturated Buffers in Iowa Watersheds, a 2-page fact sheet describing the use of saturated buffers in Iowa.
Denitrifying Bioreactors
Applying Woodchip Bioreactors for Improved Water Quality, a publication describing the use of woodchip bioreactors as a tool to help manage nitrates levels in tile drainage
Woodchip Bioreactors for Nitrate in Agricultural Drainage, a publication explaining how bioreactors work, how to install and use them, their positive and negative impacts, and their costs.
Drainage Water Recycling
Questions and Answers About Drainage Water Recycling for the Midwest, 8-page publication that provides a broad overview of the benefits, costs, and issues related to drainage water recycling systems.
Evaluating Drainage Water Recycling Decisions, a tool that provides an estimate of the potential irrigation and water quality benefits that result from capturing drained agricultural water in various sizes of water storage reservoirs
Subirrigation
Subirrigation Site Suitability Tool, a tool that identifies the potential suitability for subirrigation of land in the Upper Midwestern United States. Map data is available for download.