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Worth County orders elevation shots after recurring drainage complaints
Summary
County officials directed staff to take elevation shots between Mockingbird and Mallard roads to investigate box culverts and standing water affecting farmland and adjacent ditches.
Worth County commissioners voted to have county staff take elevation measurements in a rural drainage corridor after public discussion about standing water and potential culvert problems.
Speaker 4, an unidentified government official, moved to have county personnel — named in the discussion as Edgar Vio — take elevation shots “while they’re up here,” and the motion was seconded and carried by voice vote. The approved survey area includes the stretch between Mockingbird and Mallard and from Mallard to 450th, where residents and staff reported inconsistent flows and possible over-excavation.
Why it matters: residents and landowners raised concerns that a box culvert near Mockingbird may not be passing water as intended and that portions of a drainage ditch appear to be at or above field elevations. County staff said preliminary checks showed the water level entering at Mallard was about the same as the outflow and that the box culvert may have been set level when installed. The elevation shots are intended to confirm whether the culvert or ditch profiles need cleaning, lowering or other corrective work.
Discussion highlights: county staff said Colton Kissinger had checked records and found no clear dates for when a particular road got blacktopped, and observed that the culvert had been put in “level.” Speakers noted historic bridge permitting and petition processes can delay repairs; a separate drainage-district petition process remains pending in some downstream reaches toward Shell Rock.
Next steps: staff will shoot elevations along the specified segments while crews are on site for other work. The board recorded the motion as carried by voice vote. Any follow-up repairs, including cleaning a covered box culvert or placing spoils along banks, were discussed as possibilities but no construction authorization beyond surveying was recorded.
The meeting included farmer- and landowner-focused remarks that explained local irrigation and sump-pump practices; one speaker emphasized that, if outlets are underwater, field owners may need to install a force main or other private measures to drain fields. County staff said cleaning the ditch and confirming elevations could reduce the need for private solutions if the drainage profile is corrected.
