When people look at federal appropriations for construction or maintenance projects they don’t understand, they begin to question the necessity of those projects. The case for this blog is one of converting open irrigation channels into piped irrigation lines. If you live in the eastern half of the country, where water is much more readily available, you might look at your tax dollars going to enclose a perfectly good channel or ditch and wonder if it’s worth it. A closer look at four reasons for enclosing a ditch will illustrate just how important enclosing canals is. The four reasons we will be discussing today are: Water Savings, Maintenance, Public Safety and Usable Land.

Engineers widely use plastic chambers for retention and/or infiltration of stormwater.  These systems are comprised of rows of open bottom arch-shaped chambers in a stone backfill.  Stormwater is stored in the chamber volume as well as the void space in the surrounding stone.  Manifolds for chamber systems typically consist of 12" to 24" HDPE corrugated pipe elbows and tees.  The chamber has an open bottom so water can pass freely from one row of chambers to the next.  One might ask, "Why do I need an inlet or outlet manifold if the water flows passively through the stone?"