Abstract

Hamilton County Iowa Drainage Dashboard
Track: Water, Wastewater, and Stormwater
Authors: Nick Janzen

The Hamilton County Iowa Recorder's Office manages several hundred miles of agricultural drain tile that is designed to remove excess water from resident's fields to provide for optimal crop growth. These drains have been in place since the early 1900's and have undergone several repairs and reroutes through the years that have not always been recorded. The County GIS Office was enlisted to help solve this dilemma by digitizing recorded and unrecorded drain tile through the use of old engineer reports, DEMs, and Near-Infrared imagery. Additionally, the County GIS Office developed a dashboard for the County Recorder's Office that allows staff to input repairs, view repairs, view the digitized drain tiles and their associated drainage districts over aerial imagery, and view other critical information needed to manage the County's drain tile.