Photo courtesy of Kevin Hauth A flooded field on the Kevin Hauth farm near 350th Avenue between Springfield and Comfrey is pictured after heavy rain in May 2023. Brown County Commissioners unanimously authorized a feasibility study by ISG Engineering of Mankato for landowners on County Ditch 25 Tuesday. Feasibility study goals are to give landowners repair cost options, and other information to make decisions on moving projects forward.

NEW ULM — After hearing Bashaw Township farmers say they’ve lost a lot of acres to drown-outs Tuesday, Brown County commissioners unanimously approved authorizing ISG Engineering of Mankato to do a County Ditch 25 feasibility study.

Approval of a study to give landowners ditch repair, improvement and possible water storage costs came on a motion by Commissioner Scott Windschitl, seconded by Tony Berg.

Brown County Auditor Treasurer Kelly Hotovec said there have been many discussions with CD 25 landowners on ways to improve drainage for all ditch system property owners. She said some CD 25 landowners requested a feasibility study on the ditch system.

Bashaw Township landowner Keven Hauth provided photos of a flooded field near his farm taken from 350th Avenue facing west in 2023 and of flooded fields near CR 100, facing west toward CR 16 and 160th Street facing east, taken in May 2023.

“We’ve had a lot of rain the last couple years, but we’ve lost a lot of acres to drown-outs. Just drive around the section and see all the drowned out areas we’re dealing with now,” said Hauth.

“When we get a lot of rain in our tile intakes, instead of going down, we’ve got water going up. A few days after the rain, the lakes keep getting bigger and bigger. It’s causing a lot of financial issues. Roads are closed and it takes a couple weeks for the water to recede. The ditch is meant to remove a quarter inch of water a day. It’s not adequate,” he said.

Landowner Troy Windschitl said ditch dumps into a creek on his land with no grade for about a mile around.

“It creates washouts,” he said.

“Usually a couple days after a big rain, we get all this water,” said Roger Hauth who farms in Bashaw Township.

Commissioner Brian Braun said from previous documentation, it looks like there could be some cracked or collapsed tile line.

Commissioner Windschitl asked if there was anybody at the board meeting who was not in favor of doing a feasibility study. There was no response.

The goal of a feasibility study is to give landowners costs, options and other information to make decisions on future projects. The study will include repair and improvement costs and possible water storage costs. After the study is done, landowners will meet with feasibility study engineer and receive a written report to consider.

Chuck Brandel of ISG Engineering, Mankato, confirmed they could do the feasibility study. ISG Engineering already has a map of the system created and some watershed analysis was done for work they did for a ditch system landowner. Brandel said the study could be done in a few weeks and a meeting with landowners could be scheduled in late August or early September, before harvest.

Hotovec said the feasibility study for the 2,112-acre ditch system will cost $3,000-$5,000. She said the ditch system benefits were redetermined at $4,067.301 in 2017 by the Freeborn County Ditch Viewing Group. The current ditch account balance is $52,296.68.