Drain tile request

We just got an email from the neighbor to the east asking if they can put drain tile on their property and drain it onto ours.

In 1985, the drainage “civil rule” was summarized in state statutes. The following provision applies to all agricultural drainage:

46A-10A-70. Permissible drainage of land. Subject to any official controls pursuant to this chapter and chapter 46A-11, owners of land may drain the land in the general course of natural drainage by constructing open or covered drains and discharging the water into any natural watercourse, into any established watercourse or into any natural depression whereby the water will be carried into a natural watercourse, into an established watercourse or into a drain on a public highway, conditioned on consent of the board having supervision of the 2 highway. If such drainage is wholly upon an owner's land, he is not liable in damages to any person. Nothing in this section affects the rights or liabilities of landowners in respect to running waters or streams.

SDCL 46A-10A-20. Legal controls. Official controls instituted by a board may include specific ordinances, resolutions, orders, regulations, or other such legal controls pertaining to other elements incorporated in a drainage plan, project, or area or establishing standards and procedures to be employed toward drainage management. Any such ordinances, resolutions, regulations, or controls shall embody the basic principle that any rural land which drains onto other rural land has a right to continue such drainage if:

(1) The land receiving the drainage remains rural in character;

(2) The land being drained is used in a reasonable manner;

(3) The drainage creates no unreasonable hardship or injury to the owner of the land receiving the drainage;

(4) The drainage is natural and occurs by means of a natural water course or established water course;

(5) The owner of the land being drained does not substantially alter on a permanent basis the course of flow, the amount of flow, or the time of flow from that which would occur; and

(6) No other feasible alternative drainage system is available that will produce less harm without substantially greater cost to the owner of the land being drained. Such provisions do not necessarily apply within municipalities, but if a municipality drains water onto rural lands lying outside the boundaries of the municipality, the municipality is subject to the above provisions, if adopted by the board.

Whether or not we believe drain tiles are a good thing, there is plenty of case law to support their desire to do this and drain it onto our land. The real phrases to keep an eye on are: natural watercourse and no unreasonable hardship.

Karol’s Prairie is the light colored pasture with the red lines on it.