Best to know drainage rules before beginning tiling project
Jean Caspers-Simmet
Date Modified: 12/01/2009 11:35 AM
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Agri News staff writer
NASHUA, Iowa -- When helping landowners settle drainage disputes, John Baker, attorney with the Iowa Concern Hotline, first refers everyone to the state's drainage laws.
Baker discussed drainage law at a tiling meeting this fall at the Borlaug Learning Center at the Northeast Research Farm at Nashua.
Iowa law allows a landowner to construct open or covered drains to drain surface water in the general course of natural drainage on a landowner's property, Baker said.
"Such drainage activities cannot increase the quantity of water or change the manner of the discharge of water onto someone else's property in a manner that damages the downhill property," Baker said.
Iowa law says that all water must flow in natural and historic water routes. A downhill landowner can't drain onto an uphill owner's land. The uphill land owner can't alter the natural water flow on the downhill land, but they can create new water routes to the downhill land.
Iowa amended its constitution in 1908 to allow drainage districts, Baker said. These are established by a county's board of supervisors. Drainage districts don't have to follow drainage laws if the land is better used by not following the law.
Counties without drainage districts must follow Iowa's statutory law. Baker outlined Iowa Supreme Court cases that form the basis for it.
The law holds that for a lower landowner to recover damages for water flow diverted from a natural drainage course, it is enough to show that the fair market value of the land decreased as a result of the altered flow patterns, Baker said.
As long as drainage is wholly on a landowner's own property, the landowner may drain water along the natural course of drainage without liability for damages to others, Baker said.
The owner may not cut through natural barriers and divert water from its natural flow, discharging it on or close to a neighbor's land, if it would increase the discharge substantially, put the discharge in a different place from its natural low, or unnecessarily cause damage, Baker said.
Iowa law holds that water from uphill land must be allowed to flow in its natural course onto downhill land. The flow may not be diverted by obstructions erected by either landowner. The owner of the uphill land may divert water by surface drainage construction on his or her own land even though different or additional water may enter downhill.
"The owner of the uphill land may not go so far as to collect and discharge water on the downhill land if it cuts a streambed," Baker said. "The downhill land is obliged to receive water from uphill lands, but not in such a way as to cut channels that did not previously exist."
Fence rows must be maintained to allow free passage of surface water. The Iowa Supreme Court ruled that it can force a landowner to return land to the condition it was in before a drainage problem existed.
Baker said the best way for landowners to resolve drainage disputes is to follow the law. He suggests looking at case law to see what courts say. Landowners can consider written agreements. If a written agreement doesn't work, landowners can try mediation.
'Getting a lawyer involved should be the last resort," Baker said.