Section 48.26. District drains; design, construction and maintenance.

 

(1)   Drainage capacity. Every district drain constructed after July 1, 1995 shall be designed and constructed so that it is capable of removing the volume of water from a 10-year 24-hour rainfall event within 48 hours after that rainfall event. For each county, a 10-year 24-hour rainfall event is the amount of rain shown in table 1 falling in 24 hours.

(2)   Ditch stability.

(a) A county drainage board shall design and construct every district ditch, including the ditch bed, banks, and related structures such as culverts, bridges and inlets, so that the ditch will remain stable when subjected to a 10-year peak discharge under sub. (1) . A district ditch is not required to contain the entire volume of water from the peak discharge. The stability standard under this paragraph does not apply to a district ditch or related structure constructed prior to July 1, 1995.

(b) A county drainage board shall repair and maintain every district ditch, as necessary, to restore and maintain the stability of that ditch.

(3)   District drains must conform to specifications. A county drainage board shall restore, repair, maintain and, if necessary, modify district drains so that each district drain conforms to the specifications formally established for that drain by court order, or by county drainage board action under s. ATCP 48.20 or 48.21 . If the county drainage board levies any cost assessment for work needed to conform a drain to formally established specifications, it shall levy the assessment according to subchapter II .

(4)   Removing obstructions. A county drainage board shall remove sediment dams, windfalls, deadfalls, sand bars, beaver dams and other obstructions from district ditches. The county drainage board shall remove the obstructions annually, or more frequently as necessary. The county drainage board shall also remove submerged vegetation from district ditches as necessary.

(5)   Restoration projects; notice to department. A county drainage board shall notify the department in writing before the county drainage board initiates any restoration project in a drainage district which involves the removal of more than 3,000 cubic yards of material.

Cr. Register, June, 1995, No. 474 , eff. 7-1-95; r. and recr. (3), cr. (5), Register, August, 1999, No. 524 , eff. 9-1-99.

Note

A county drainage board does not need department approval for a restoration project, but may need a dredging permit from the Wisconsin department of natural resources under s. 30.20 or s. 88.31 , Stats. A county drainage board may not, under the guise of a "restoration project," dredge below the bottom elevation specified as part of the formally established grade profile. See definition of "restoration project" under s. ATCP 48.01 (21) . Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1