District Ditches

The WD115 drainage system is located in Dieter and Ross Townships in Roseau County and has a drainage area of approximately 5.7 square miles. It begins approximately 1,100 feet south of 300th Street, which is approximately one mile north of Minnesota Highway 11, and outlets into the Roseau River (River) in Section 29 of Dieter Township. The overall length of WD #115 is approximately 5.5 miles and is located on the east side of Roseau County Road 115 (CR 115) until it reaches Roseau County State Aid Highway 10 (CSAH 10). WD #115 then flows northwest to the west side of CR 115 and continues north to the Roseau River.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roseau River Watershed District Board of Managers, the Drainage Authority for Roseau County Ditch #16 (CD16), received a Petition for Improvement for CD16 on February 6, 2019. Since that time, HDR Engineering has completed a detailed survey report and the ditch system has been viewed to determine drainage benefits within the system. Ditch Records for CD16 have been reestablished, and Public Hearings on the petition and ditch records have taken place. This project improves the CD #16 system to manages runoff from a 10 year – 24 hour rain event by improving the capacity of approximately 9.5 miles of ditch. Viewer's Report (Unsigned). The detailed Survey report can be found by clicking here.

This ditch system consists of three laterals draining lands in Ross, Moose, Dieter, and Pohlitz Townships. A segment of lateral 1 was completed in the fall of 2006 from County Road #10 south along the east side of section 32 of Dieter Township south ¾ mile. The described portion of the ditch was moved to the east approximately 65 feet in order to provide a 4:1 side slope to prevent sloughing that was occurring along the road.

Originally established by the State of Minnesota it consisted of 10 river cutoffs constructed in 1906-1907 time frame. In 1914 to 1918, the ditch was improved when the State of Minnesota dug the river channel from the Canadian State Ditch51border to and around the RoseauLakebed. That expansion paralleled Cutoff Number 10 in Kittson County and followed the other cutoffs constructed in 1906 and 1907. In 1988, SD 51 was expanded when the Roseau County Board of Commissioners turned over the Roseau River and Roseau Lake Bottom portions of Judicial Ditch No. 61 and State Ditch No. 37 to the Roseau River Watershed District. Under Minnesota Statute Authority, these ditches were combined with State Ditch No. 51 at a hearing conducted on October 11, 1988 and continued and concluded on November 1, 1988. The redetermination of benefits process found in excess of 9 million dollars in ditch benefits.

This ditch, located in Jadis and Stafford Townships, was turned over for administration and management to the Watershed District. The ditch capacity is under designed and past attempts to consider improvements have failed. In 2005 the RRWD Board of Managers directed JOR Engineering to do a complete survey of the ditch system, to determine the condition of the system.