Podcast Episode 107

Home
The Podcast
Drainage Summit & Crumbling Infrastructure: Why Collaboration is Key

Drainage Summit & Crumbling Infrastructure: Why Collaboration is Key

Episode 107 | 34 min

With Guests:

Chuck Brandel, National Drainage Expert and Vice President of ISG
Trey Allis, Ag Application Engineer of Prinsco

Guest host Trey Allis sits down with National Drainage Expert, Chuck Brandel, to talk about an upcoming drainage summit happening in Minnesota at the end of August. The summit is bringing together land owners, private industry, the University of Minnesota and state agencies to talk about drainage infrastructure, water quality and see edge-of-field practices in action at a farm in Rothsay, Minnesota. Chuck and Trey also touch on public infrastructure that needs to be replaced, and how collaboration is key in an opportunity to improve water quality for everyone.

Listen Now

Drainage, farming & water quality can all come together.

— Chuck Brandel, P.E.

Guest Bios

Chuck Brandel

Chuck Brandel is a professional engineer and a national drainage expert. He is with ISG, a company with expertise in architecture, engineering, environmental issues and planning, which offers comprehensive design solutions.

Trey Allis

Trey graduated from North Dakota State University with a degree in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. He joined the Prinsco team as an Application Engineer in 2017 and primarily focuses on Agricultural engineering. Growing up on a farm and in the Ag community, Allis has spent a lot of his career focusing on the Flexible Dual Wall product and the value it adds to the industry.

Speaker 1 (00:01):

Today on The Water Table podcast, I’m joined with Chuck Brandel, professional engineer and national drainage expert with ISG. Chuck and I discuss upcoming Field Day and Drainage Summit near Rothsay, Minnesota on August 22nd, as well as get into the approach that ISG takes on a lot of their drainage infrastructure improvement projects and how to do them differently to include both water storage as well as water treatment.

(00:31):

Welcome back to The Water Table podcast. My name is Trey Allis. I’m an application engineer with Prinsco, and filling in for Jamie Duininck here and joined by Chuck Brandel, the national ag drainage expert with ISG. Chuck, I think you’ve been on here once before and I look back and I think it was episode seven, so probably a little overdue to get you back on, but welcome and thanks for coming on The Water Table.

Speaker 2 (00:56):

I appreciate the opportunity. Yeah. It seems like a long time ago and there’s been a lot that’s gone on since last time I was on. But I really appreciate the opportunity, and always willing to talk about water, so this’ll be fun.

Speaker 1 (01:10):

Right. Yeah, for sure. I’m looking forward to it. And I know that you’ve been busy with a lot of things and you’re out on the road right now down at Myrtle Beach. And you want to talk a little bit about what you’re doing down there and what brought you there?

Speaker 2 (01:24):

Sure. I’m at the Soil and Water Conservation Service National Conference. And about a half hour ago, I just finished an hour-and-a-half symposium talking about drainage, environmental concerns with drainage, and the social aspects of that. We had an interactive panel with Heidi Peterson from Sand County, Chad Klotzbach from Alleghany Drainage, and we had very good participation. It was fun just talking about issues and what people are seeing throughout the country, and that’s really the purpose of this conference. So I was very happy that I got invited to speak here. And one more day of the conference tomorrow, and then I’m going to take a couple days off and enjoy the beach.

Speaker 1 (02:12):

There you go. That sounds like a good time. From the talk and session that you gave, what were some of the takeaways at that? What are some of the hurdles that you run into with some of the social demands that you’re seeing with our drainage systems or some of the takeaways that you had so far at the conference?

Speaker 2 (02:31):

Well, overall, just takeaways of the conference is just how everybody needs to work together and collaborate. And the presentation that I gave, I did focus on drainage in the Upper Midwest, and there are a lot of people in the room. I made it very interactive. You had to answer questions on your phone and then raise your hand, and so I got to know the people in the room, but a lot of them didn’t know what public drainage was. So did a little explanation of how public drainage works, how watersheds are set up, how they’re assessed, some history of that, and how that came about, and then how those systems both function and how maybe they can and should function in the future. And we got a lot of interesting feedback on different things.

(03:22):

We talked about storage, we talked about some drainage, water recycling and wetlands, and a lot of other things that we can go more detailed into. But it was interesting to talk social demands with this group, and what their thoughts were on how we should move forward. And I did some word puzzles that came… Everybody had to say a word, and kind of the main theme out of everything was collaboration. We need to work together to find the right solution. So I was hoping for that, and the crowd came through and answered that when we asked those questions, so it was good.

Speaker 1 (04:02):

No, that’s good to hear. And like you mentioned, there’s other events that have been going on and I want to dive into more of some of the work that you and your team do at ISG within those watersheds and within the projects and whatnot. But maybe want to hit on a couple other field days that I know you have been organized and been a part of. One of them was actually down in my neck of the woods down in Wells here, earlier this spring, but you had a field day, took us out on some tours down around southern Minnesota to check out some of those projects that you have. So you want to give a little recap on that day?

Speaker 2 (04:35):

Yeah, absolutely. So each year we’ve been doing what we call the spring tour. We used to do a sit-down conference where everybody was in a conference room, and when COVID hit, we decided let’s get people outside, then we could actually have a meeting. And it was so popular that we’ve just continued to do it. We try to hit that area right after planting before spring and before we get too… the weeds are too high and the bugs are too bad. And we got out and we looked at four projects. I call it maybe the I-90 Corridor tour.

(05:11):

We started over in Martin County in Fairmont and looked at the eight-acre nutrient treatment wetland that was constructed for the watershed that drains into the city of Fairmont along with the start of the 8,000 foot two-stage ditch project. The pond had just gotten constructed and just seeded, so it was nice to see that kind of an action. You had equipment out there, and I think we had at that site about 90 people just walking around and looking at how that works. And with the amount of rain we had had at that time, the tiles were flowing so they could see the tile coming in, and the water going out. So that was good. And we toured a couple other projects. We saw the world’s largest bioreactor just north of Blue Earth. That’s been in place for a few years now.

Speaker 1 (05:57):

And we did have some debate about that, right, where we weren’t quite sure it was the world’s largest on a site or something like that, right?

Speaker 2 (06:06):

On an ag tile.

Speaker 1 (06:08):

There we go.

Speaker 2 (06:09):

For treating ag tile, it was the world’s largest bioreactor for treating ag tile. There’s apparently one larger in Europe, but it doesn’t treat ag drainage tile, so I’m claiming that, because it will just put the ag tile as part of it.

Speaker 1 (06:24):

Right on.

Speaker 2 (06:26):

And then we got to see a large wetland, about 160-acre restoration where the tile had essentially failed. And working with the landowner, we did a private wetland bank, turned out well. We queued up the deer and the pheasants and the ducks as we all walked up, and we had the wildlife there. So people thought I had that stage, but it just shows how well those things worked. And then we got to see the two-stage ditch project closer to your neck of the woods in Faribault County on County Ditch 64, collaborated with the DNR and fixed a very erodible drainage system with a pretty unique solution where we did half of a two-stage ditch along a township road. And that thing has weathered some big storms and held up. So we’ve got good drainage for the farmers and something that we’ve stopped a lot of erosion, so good turnout, and then obviously the next day we did a little VIP tour for some people from out of town, and that was fun too, seeing some projects around my home at Lake Washington.

Speaker 1 (07:36):

Yep. Got to visit a little more of the lakes and stuff up there, and I think there was maybe an inch or two of rain that came in at about that same time too. So definitely got to see where some of those conservation practices could be useful as well on those different landscapes up there.

Speaker 2 (07:54):

Yeah, yeah. That was a great tour. And Mike Schultz from Le Sueur County, the Le Sueur County SWCD, helped to lead that. And we had a little fun with it, looking at a few storage basins. We had a landowner that came out, and I did a little selling of a future storage basin with them, so that was fun, but it was not planned.

Speaker 1 (08:18):

Yep. Got the pheasants, the ducks, the landowners. You got everybody queued up when you bring people out on site.

Speaker 2 (08:24):

Yeah, people think that just have this queued up. But no, it worked out really well. And then we went to the Goofy Goat farm for a little break and had a little fun. So that was a fun day. And it’s nice to talk a little bit more in a smaller setting with some folks that don’t live here and live in other parts of the country, and to kind of show them what we can do here and what we’re dealing with, with drainage water, and how we can have some very solutions.

Speaker 1 (08:56):

Yeah, absolutely. That’s probably a good jumping off point into showing off more practices, showing off more sites and stuff like that. That was one of the main reasons that wanted to get you on The Water Table here. Now, at the end of June, is there’s a summit coming up here at the end of August, up near Fergus Falls near Rothsay. Do you want to give us a little background into how this is all coming about with this Field Day Summit, and what’s all planned with the event coming up here in August?

Speaker 2 (09:31):

Sure. We’re calling it the Minnesota Drainage Summit, and it started with Lindsey Pease from the U of M and myself. We’re at a couple conferences, and we’re both in Minnesota, but we’re kind of on opposite ends, her up in Crookston and me down to Mankato. How can we work together on a conference and just talk about positive messages with drainage? So we ended up pulling in Yaba from the Minnesota Department of Ag. We had a Teams call and we picked sites in southern Minnesota, the middle of Minnesota, northern Minnesota, and then we started making some calls, and Jared Nordic, who has a few practices on his site, volunteered and said, “I’ll gladly be part of the first one.”

(10:16):

So we’re going to use his site up by Rothsay and look at a few structures that he’s done, stream bank restoration, some controlled drainage, and I believe a saturated buffer. So I’m excited to get up there and check it out because I haven’t been up there, but the morning part of that day, so it’s August 22nd, 9:00 to 3:00. A few of us will be up there on August 21st, so if you want to come up early, we maybe will be having a little fun the night before.

Speaker 1 (10:49):

Perfect.

Speaker 2 (10:49):

But that day, we’re going to have some sessions in the morning. We’re going to cover a lot of different issues. I’m going to cover more of a Minnesota perspective on drainage and some environmental barriers and solutions that we’re working on. Lindsay Pease is going to use her expertise and just be Drainage 101. We’re going to have a few folks from the Wilkin SWCD. Yaba’s going to speak about conservation drainage. We’re going to get some private industry perspective from Levi Otis from Ellington, and then a Red River perspective from Chad Engels from Moore Engineering. And then it’s up to the… We’re going to tour the site, and really we want to show that drainage and farming and water quality can all come together, and if we have the right team there and Jared is willing to take us around and show us, I think he’s pretty pumped. So it should be a fun day.

Speaker 1 (11:51):

Yeah, I believe was out on that site. I think when I first started at Prinsco, Kent Rodriguez, he put that in front of me and said, “Hey, there’s a site up here. We donated some pipe to it and go and check it out.” So they had a really good event going on that first time. That was handful of years ago now, but it’d be good to show that off again and see some of the progress that’s been made and get, probably the biggest thing, get that farmer, that landowner perspective on what these practices are doing on their site. They’re the most knowledgeable and things that are going on in their land. So he had good insight when he was first showing it off on why he was doing it in the first place, and then now loop back here a few years later and get that insight again. And something good that you mentioned at this SWCS event, brought up collaboration, and that sounds like exactly what you’re doing. And part of with the summit here, with all these different entities, whether that’s university, private industry, different engineering firms as well, is get everybody there in the same group to talk about some of this stuff That’s really important on our landscape with our drainage water infrastructure and how that all works together with water quality and water quantity issues that we’re continuing to see.

Speaker 2 (13:05):

Yeah, I-

Speaker 1 (13:07):

Yeah, and especially important this year too, with a lot of-

Speaker 2 (13:10):

Oh, yeah. I’m really excited that we got this set up. We put it together fairly quickly, and hopefully we get a large number of farmers there.

Speaker 1 (13:21):

And then-

Speaker 2 (13:22):

Sorry, I’ve been talking all day.

Speaker 1 (13:23):

I can tell. Yeah. As far as you mentioned that, who is this event for? Like you said, there’s going to be a lot of different entities there presenting and giving some perspective, but a lot of farmers, drainage contractors, who are y’all looking at targeting for an event like this?

Speaker 2 (13:42):

Really, you said it. The farmers and the drainage contractors are prime target, but we have reached out to all of the watershed districts in Minnesota. It’ll be shared with the Association of Minnesota Counties, so hopefully we get some county commissioners there. They have a lot of say in that. SWCD folks, hopefully a few agency people also. And like I said, it’s about the good things with drainage and conservation drainage and what can be done. When you look at the invitation, we have project partners and event partners, and we’re going to highlight all of those, including you guys that helped out in donating pipe for that project originally, and then a few others that are helping to put on the event. And then I hope that this continues, and we can do one of these every year. You want to see things during the growing season. A lot of times to get farmers there, you got to pick the right time and you got to hope everything aligns, and sometimes our spring event, so hopefully this one will.

Speaker 1 (14:52):

Yep, spread the bases out a little bit there. Hopefully you can-

Speaker 2 (14:54):

Yep.

Speaker 1 (14:54):

… at least hit some events going on. And I know that was always a complaint for the last handful of years, specifically down in Iowa talking with, say, Matt Helmers or whomever, and yep, have all these sites all lined up and yeah, we have grad students ready to start looking at the data and then you don’t get rain for three years down there. So very much to analyze. And kind of same thing with field days too, but if nothing else, like you mentioned, that perspective from local people in the area, whether that is the farmer, the landowner, contractors, whomever, I think that’s going to be really valuable experience for anybody that’s coming in to learn more about any of these practices or about any of these issues that we’re continuing to see.

Speaker 2 (15:35):

Yep, absolutely. And like I said, this hopefully becomes an annual event and we can rotate it around. What I really like about it is that our host is a farmer. He gets half the day to show off what he’s done, and I just love to see that and how excited he is to do that, because he’s been living with this system for quite a while and it’s working, and he knows what’s worked and what’s not worked, and he’s willing to show that off and go through that. So that’s the most part I’m excited about. And hopefully we can find those throughout the state as we continue to do this.

Speaker 1 (16:13):

For sure, and that’s something that… been really fortunate to, I guess witness, experience, just going to a handful of conferences and a handful of other field days throughout the country. But we’re talking about agriculture and water and water management and how that looks different in different parts of the country or of the world. But also within the state too is you have the Red River valley up to the north. Ground gets a lot lighter and a lot, I guess, bigger further west you go. And then I always like to think that we’re down in God’s country down with some pretty good soil down in South Central Minnesota, further east than… The topography looks a lot different over there too. So just in one state, let alone all lakes country up north. But just in one state there is those different opportunities for looking at water and agriculture in these different pockets that we have. So that’d be a good event and a good, I guess, continuous event to look forward to here over the coming years.

Speaker 2 (17:15):

Yeah. And the other thing is private industry, the University of Minnesota, and a state agency getting together for a conference. That’s really awesome. So I was glad it came together.

Speaker 1 (17:27):

For sure. Switching gears a little bit, I want to dive into some of the work that you and your team has been doing with ISG, specifically looking at some of these county drainage project, county ditch projects. Maybe we’ll just kick it over to you on what is your guys’ approach or maybe outline the problem a little bit for how these projects get on your radar, on your plate, and your approach to designing drainage infrastructure at this large watershed or district scale.

Speaker 2 (18:03):

Well, and I know you guys have had people on that have talked about the history of drainage in Minnesota and talked about the laws, but really what we’re seeing is a hundred-plus-year-old public drainage systems. A lot of these are open ditches. A majority of them are tiles. And these tiles were constructed 1902, 1910, 1920, and they’re failing. And we’re seeing higher rainfall events, more intense rainfall events. Obviously this summer, spring, summer is kind of off the charts for that. But these systems are failing, and they need to be replaced, and our approach to that is we can do that differently. We have some of the best farmland in the world in our area, and we need to make sure that we can get those crops planted, get them off and make sure they survive. When we have these rainfall events at the same time, we’re 10,000 lakes in Minnesota, we got a lot of public waters and we want to protect those.

(19:04):

So our approach is let’s design it a little differently. Let’s find a spot where maybe we could do a practice that treats water but at the same time conveys it. And a two-stage ditch is a great example of that, because You can have some additional nutrient treatment, but it still conveys the water, and gets it where it needs to go. We’ve also looked at putting storage in the middle of systems to offset some of the capacity needs that we have, adding like a eight to ten-acre or even three to five-acre storage basin where we have a low spot in the middle of a system and then our outlet can be a little bit smaller, but we still improve it and we get all the drainage we can to that storage basin.

(19:51):

And this last spring, and last year we had some pretty big events in Southern Minnesota. Some of these got tested and they’re working. The farmers are able to get back in the fields when they get these systems upgraded, and we’re storing some water and trying to protect their outlets at the same time. So it’s important, it’s a public infrastructure, but we’re looking at designing that differently than we had in the past, for many reasons.

Speaker 1 (20:21):

Yeah. And I want to bring back to a little bit, maybe just to get into the details a little more, on this is infrastructure issue of old concrete, old clay pipe that is failing. But when you say it’s failing, what is kind of the risk to not only the land, but also how is that failing the pipe itself?

Speaker 2 (20:44):

Well, what’s happening is the concrete itself is collapsing, and then we’re getting holes in the field, we’re getting erosion that’s happening downstream. In some cases, frost is moving them around, and allowing sediment to get in them, but that’s also a restriction in the system. So when these collapse, the system isn’t working, we get overland flow that’s causing erosion. Tiles backing up, fields flooded, roads overtopping. So if we can fix those and get those working accordingly, we can reduce a lot of downstream issues with erosion. There was a 28-inch clay tile that failed a few years back, and we called it the combine sized holes that were created in the fields because there was nothing around them anymore. And we ended up replacing that system and putting a storage pond in the outlet, and now they… Haven’t heard a word from them since.

Speaker 1 (21:52):

Right. And that’s a good thing.

Speaker 2 (21:54):

Yep. That’s a good thing. Yep. Yeah, I had a county commissioner tell me a few years back, we were in a meeting with landowners, they couldn’t decide what to do and they said, “You only want to see our team once. Do the whole thing, do it right, work together on some solutions, and it’s going to last for a long time.”

Speaker 1 (22:17):

Right.

Speaker 2 (22:18):

That’s some good advice, and they took it.

Speaker 1 (22:20):

Good. Yep. The whole do it right once and then you don’t have to worry about it. And maybe another point to put in there too is these systems, like you said, they were designed a hundred years ago, 120 years ago. They’ve well served their service life and then they already paid for themselves over many times. And that’s something that we’re looking at doing when you guys are redesigning and replacing this infrastructure is with something else that’s a sustainable product plastic pipe. That’s where we’re seeing a lot of use of our larger-diameter dual-wall type stuff, being able to end with a hundred year service life, being able to be there for that next a hundred years or the next 120 years as well in order to serve that life and keep that ability to keep moving water open for the next couple generations as well.

Speaker 2 (23:14):

Yeah, I a hundred percent agree with you on that. We have better solutions. The dual-wall pipe has been working great to replace these old systems and provide something that’s going to last for a long time.

Speaker 1 (23:28):

And then you mentioned both the storage and treatment with some of the things that you’re designing in these systems. And I think a really good example of this kind of train of a drainage improvement followed by a storage pond slash wetland, followed by a two-stage ditch, was at that Martin County project that we went to on the field day here earlier this spring. But kind of want to walk through that process a little bit. I know that you guys are trying on designing and implementing that improvement a little bit different with… I guess with that specific project of doing the downstream work first before doing the improvement upstream, but want to talk through that a little bit?

Speaker 2 (24:08):

Yeah, absolutely. So that project started as the landowners in the middle of the watershed were having issues. Their tile was failing, and they wanted to upsize it. So we started looking at options, and when you look at the outlet of that system, it drains into Cedar Creek, which goes into the Fairmont chain of lakes. City of Fairmont takes their drinking water out of the Fairmont chain of lakes. So immediately at one of our prelim meetings, we made sure we had the city there, the county there, the SWCD, the landowners. And the landowners, we had told them that we’re going to have to do some things differently to make this work, and they were on board, and we pulled everybody together and looked at how could we do a project that solved the issue in the middle of the watershed while still protecting the lakes. And we applied, through the border water and soil resources, a projects and practices grant, which uses clean water funding, and we’ve got just under $900,000 of grant funding, which helped pay for part of the storage basin and part of the two-stage ditch.

(25:22):

The Martin County thankfully did a little over $120,000 match for that project, made it happen. So you got a $3 million project, one-third funding, which is all water quality, and the rest is paid for by landowners. But when we put it together, knowing that we still have that issue in the middle of the watershed, we said, “We need to get the water quality practices in place first.” So the first thing we did is the storage basin, or the nutrient treatment wetland is the technical term for it, but large storage basin, and started that construction last fall, went through the winter, fairly good conditions until we got all the rain, but it did get built, and it’s functioning.

(26:08):

And now this summer, once we get a little bit of floodwaters going down, we’ll do the two-stage ditch, get that established, and then we’re looking to bid the tile portion later this year and construct that next year. That way we have all of the water quality features in place and then we do the tile improvement. And we’re hoping that that’s a good way to do things in the future. And we’re going to make sure that that infrastructure that we put in is constructed right. We get the grass established, any erosion concerns taken care of and functioning, and once the tile’s running, we’ll have treatment on it from day one.

Speaker 1 (26:48):

And then also part of that nutrient treatment, wetland storage pond, whatever you want to call it, is that settling basin in there. When you’re thinking about doing things different or trying to change things up for an improvement for something like this, that’s something else that you guys have started developing a little bit more now over the years is having that ability to clean these storage ponds because eventually they’re going to fill up with sediment, eventually they’re going to start leading into other capacity issues and things like that. So it kind of sounds real simple of, “Hey, hang on to some water here, but you are going to have to deal with those other consequences that comes with slower water within that wetland as well.” So it just little things like that that I appreciate you guys are always looking into and then looking at tweaking and looking at learning from and improving on that too.

Speaker 2 (27:43):

Yeah, and if I could just add to that, the presentation I just gave an hour ago, a gentleman from Maryland asked me about these storage basins, and what are you going to do when the sediment fills up and it becomes bad to treat? And I said, we’re not going to let it get there. We’ve got a maintenance plan, we got an area designated that’s easy to be accessible, and we’re going to put that sediment back on the fields. Right now we’ve estimated a 10 year clean-out on a lot of these basins. That just depends what mother nature does. So on a year like this, that might speed it up and it might be a six- or seven-year if we get a lot of events like this. We get a drier period, it might be a little bit longer. But the landowners know that and the county is aware of that, and we’ve done it. A couple of the earlier basins that I’ve designed, we cleaned them out, and they’re capturing sediment again.

Speaker 1 (28:40):

And that’s similar theory. You think about that, and I’m sure you’ve probably heard about it too. Well then I’m going to have to pay for all that other cost or going to have to pay for cleaning it so often, whatnot. And we’re like, “Well, you’re probably going to be doing that same thing with the ditches that you have throughout that watershed or throughout that drainage district as well.” So to me, it’s a lot better trade off of having that all in one place designed to do it that way, versus also going back with the backhoe or whatever you have in the back 40 to keep pulling sediment out of something where you don’t want it to be in the first place.

Speaker 2 (29:12):

Correct. And the landowners really get that. They get that, that that’s what we’re doing. We’ll have maintenance on the storage basin, but we’re going to have a lot less maintenance on the open ditch, because that sediment won’t be there, and a lot cleaner water in the lakes.

Speaker 1 (29:26):

That’s right. Yeah, for sure. Last question that I got for you is when you are working on these projects, like you mentioned, there’s a lot of stakeholders there, whether there’s multiple landowners out there, agencies. What have you found successful with working with all these different groups to get some of these larger projects up off the ground, implemented, and installed right as well? And we can dive into that whole installation thing I’m sure for a while, but maybe that’ll be time for another podcast. But as far as coordinating some of these projects and working with all these other entities, what have you found successful over the years for approaching that?

Speaker 2 (30:08):

Well, starting with the farmers is speaking their language is one. They need to understand things. I’m a big proponent of having non-official landowner meetings prior to having a public hearing. Get everybody in a room, everybody’s wearing jeans, you’re talking about different things, and come to them with more than one solution, and then listen. Listen to what works, get their buy-in and their input, and when you do that, it just makes things easier. And then the next step after that is to start some earlier coordination with the county folks. If there’s any highways you need to cross, any permitting requirements with any of the agencies and then start looking for if there’s funding that can be done also. And the earlier you can start all that, the better.

(31:05):

Don’t go down the wrong rabbit hole. Start designing it with everybody’s input and do it once, do it right, but really have a couple extra landowner meetings. It goes a long way. And invite everybody, share information, don’t hide any information, and that’s the best way to make these projects happen. So it goes back to the collaboration that we talked about here at the SWCS Conference.

Speaker 1 (31:34):

Yep, exactly. Yeah, and that might be another, I guess, good spot to leave that wrap in a nice circle here at the end as well. But maybe just mention one last time, I think this will be coming out here in early August, but August 22nd from nine to three at the Nordic Farm. I believe you guys will be promoting it. We’ll have something available on The Water Table site as well for this field day to get registration and get the contact information for that stuff as well. So yeah, with that, anything else that we’re missing or anything else to plug or you got any other speaking engagements or conferences coming up here in the next few months, Chuck?

Speaker 2 (32:16):

Gosh, let me think. Off the top of my head, no. I’m here in Myrtle Beach, and then there’s a few events this fall, the Eastern South Dakota drainage event, and the University of Minnesota Water Resources event. They’re actually happening on the same day. So I’m going to be in South Dakota. Somebody else is going to cover Minnesota. But no, I am going to take a trip down to Kentucky and take some time off and do some bourbon hunting because that’s something I have a passion for. So I get a break in there, but I’m going to enjoy that.

Speaker 1 (32:57):

Perfect. Well, yeah, you deserve that. And thanks for all the work that you do, not only with ISG and these projects that are getting implemented at scale with conservation and everything in mind, but then also your work for promoting the industry well for being out there, taking a proactive and practical approach with these water issues, dealing with water quality, water quantity, treatment, nutrients, wetlands, all this stuff that we’re trying to promote here on The Water Table. You’re doing that through your channel as well. Much appreciate your time and your work for everything that you do. So with that, thanks a lot, Chuck. Thanks a lot for coming on and being a guest on The Water Table. We’ll have you on again.

Speaker 2 (33:42):

All right, thank you so much. Have a great day.

Podcast Episode 107

Drainage Summit & Crumbling Infrastructure: Why Collaboration is Key

Episode 107 | 34 min

With Guests:

Listen Now

Guest Bios

Chuck Brandel

Trey Allis

Transcript

You Might Also Like

Podcast Episode 107

Drainage Summit & Crumbling Infrastructure: Why Collaboration is Key

Episode 107 | 34 min

With Guests:

Listen Now

Also Available On

Guest Bios

Chuck Brandel

Trey Allis

Transcript

You Might Also Like