A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches are commonly seen around farmland, especially in areas that have required drainage, such as The Fens in eastern England and much of the Netherlands. Roadside ditches may provide a hazard to

motorist Driving is the controlled operation and movement of a vehicle, including cars, motorcycles, trucks, buses, and bicycles. Permission to drive on public highways is granted based on a set of conditions being met and drivers are required to follo ...

s and cyclists, whose vehicles may crash into them and get damaged, flipped over, or stuck and cause major injury, especially in poor weather conditions and rural areas.

Etymology

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

, the word ''dïc'' already existed and was pronounced "deek" in northern England and "deetch" in the south. The origins of the word lie in digging a trench and forming the upcast soil into a bank alongside it. This practice has meant that the name ''dïc'' was given to either the excavation or the bank, and evolved to both the words "dike"/"dyke" and "ditch". Thus Offa's Dyke is a combined structure and Car Dyke is a trench, though it once had raised banks as well. In the English

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

and

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

, a dyke is what a ditch is in the south of England, a property-boundary marker or drainage channel. Where it carries a stream, it may be called a running dike as in ''Rippingale Running Dike'', which leads water from the

catchwater drain A catchwater drain is a land drain, a ditch cut across the fall of the land, typically just above the level of low-lying, level ground such as The Fens of eastern England, where some land, tens of kilometres from the sea is at about sea level. Its ...

, Car Dyke, to the South Forty Foot Drain in Lincolnshire (TF1427). The Weir Dike is a soak dike in Bourne North Fen, near

Twenty Twenty or 20 may refer to: * 20 (number), the natural number following 19 and preceding 21 * one of the years 20 BC, AD 20, 1920, 2020 Music Albums * ''20'' (2nd Chapter of Acts album), 1992 * ''20'' (Cunter album), 2011 * ''20'' (Dr ...

and alongside the River Glen.

Sustainability of drainage ditches

Drainage ditches play major roles in agriculture throughout the world. Improper drainage systems accelerate

water contamination Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. Water ...

, excessively desiccate soils during seasonal drought, and become a financial burden to maintain. Industrial earth-moving equipment facilitates maintenance of straight drainage trenches, but entrenchment results in increasing environmental and eventually profound economic costs over time. Sustainable channel design can result in ditches that are largely self-maintaining due to natural

geomorphological Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or n ...

equilibrium. Slowed net siltation and erosion result in net reduction in

sediment transport Sediment transport is the movement of solid particles (sediment), typically due to a combination of gravity acting on the sediment, and/or the movement of the fluid in which the sediment is entrained. Sediment transport occurs in natural system ...

. Encouraging development of a natural

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

sinuosity and a multi-terraced channel cross section appear to be key to maintain both peak ditch drainage capacity, and minimum net pollution and

nutrient A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow, and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi, and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excret ...

transport. Flooding can be a major cause of recurring crop loss—particularly in heavy soils—and can severely disrupt urban economies as well. Subsurface drainage to ditches offers a way to remove excess water from agricultural fields, or vital urban spaces, without the erosion rates and pollution transport that results from direct

surface runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when th ...

. However, excess drainage results in recurring drought induced

crop yield In agriculture, the yield is a measurement of the amount of a crop grown, or product such as wool, meat or milk produced, per unit area of land. The seed ratio is another way of calculating yields. Innovations, such as the use of fertilizer, the c ...

losses and more severe

urban heat An urban heat island (UHI) is an urban or metropolitan area that is significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to human activities. The temperature difference is usually larger at night than during the day, and is most apparent ...

desiccation Desiccation () is the state of extreme dryness, or the process of extreme drying. A desiccant is a hygroscopic (attracts and holds water) substance that induces or sustains such a state in its local vicinity in a moderately sealed container. ...

issues.

Controlled subsurface drainage Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Controlling ...

from sensitive areas to vegetated drainage ditches makes possible a better balance between water drainage and water retention needs. The initial investment allows a community to draw down local water tables when and where necessary without exacerbating drought problems at other times.Drainage Water Management Updates (G. Sands) http://d-outlet.coafes.umn.edu/presentations/DrainForum06/G.%20Sands-WTM%20Updates.pdf

Water diversion ditches

Particularly in Colorado, the term ditch is also applied to open aqueducts that traverse hillsides as part of

transbasin diversion Interbasin transfer or transbasin diversion are (often hyphenated) terms used to describe man-made conveyance schemes which move water from one river basin where it is available, to another basin where water is less available or could be utilized ...

projects. Examples include the Grand Ditch over La Poudre Pass, the Berthoud Pass Ditch, and the

Boreas Pass Boreas Pass (elevation ) is a high mountain pass in central Colorado, in the Rocky Mountains of the western United States. The pass is located on the continental divide, at the crest of the Front Range along the border between Park (south) and Summ ...

Ditch.

Herbicides

Herbicide Herbicides (, ), also commonly known as weedkillers, are substances used to control undesired plants, also known as weeds.EPA. February 201Pesticides Industry. Sales and Usage 2006 and 2007: Market Estimates. Summary in press releasMain page fo ...

s may be used to maintain a ditch. Primarily this is done to deny refuge to weeds that would progress into the adjacent field, but may instead involve only

broadleaf herbicide Broadleaf weeds are unwanted tough plants that may grow in lawns, gardens or yards. They can be easy to spot when growing among grasses. They multiply with ease and can be very hard to eradicate. Basic characteristics Broadleaf weeds can emerge ...

s specifically to produce forage and/or hay (see §For forage and hay below).

For forage and hay

Ditches can provide forage or be harvested for hay. If herbicides are used, however, the resulting manure cannot necessarily be used in crop fields, because in some cases herbicides will pass through and produce crop injury.

References

External links

*{{cite web, last=Barbagallo, first=Tricia, url=http://www.archives.nysed.gov/apt/magazine/MagSummer05FeatureArticle_000.pdf, format=PDF, title=Black Beach: The Mucklands of Canastota, New York, date=June 1, 2005, access-date=2008-06-04, url-status=dead, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625012111/http://www.archives.nysed.gov/apt/magazine/MagSummer05FeatureArticle_000.pdf, archive-date=June 25, 2008 Aqueducts Drainage Irrigation