House Ag panel hears testimony on drainage-notice bill after downstream landowners describe crop and property damage

The House Agriculture Committee on Monday heard extended testimony on House Bill 1544, a measure that would require landowners who install drainage systems of 80 acres or less that discharge onto neighboring property to notify downstream landowners and, if objections are raised, submit to the regular permitting process.

Supporters told the committee that current law allows upstream landowners to tile and pump water onto neighbors’ land without meaningful prior notice, sometimes causing lost hay, reduced pasture productivity and surface salinization. Rory Gable of Valley City described repeated, year-round discharge from a neighbor’s tile pump that he said has rendered hay ground too wet to harvest and forced him to buy replacement feed. "Since the pump was turned on, the water has been continuously flowing onto our property even through this winter," Gable said.

Gable and other supporters urged adding a mediation step, similar to language in Senate Bill 2283, so disputes could be addressed before litigation. An online witness…