Modern Approaches to Conservation Drainage Design

This fast-paced Modern Approaches to Conservation Drainage Design technical training is designed to provide professional engineers, surveyors, drainage officials, and contractors with practical guidance on siting and designing key edge‑of‑field water quality practices including drainage water management, saturated buffers, and denitrifying bioreactors.

Sponsors include the Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership, Agricultural Drainage Management Coalition, and The Nature Conservancy.

• Day One (May 6th, 8:30AM to 5:00 PM) focuses on how different practices function within modern drainage systems and introduces the core design principles behind each practice, enabling attendees to better collaborate with partners, review plans, guide landowners, and support project implementation.
• Day Two (May 7th, 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM) provides an overview of the NRCS Technical Service Provider (TSP) certification process. Attendees will learn what’s required for TSP certification and how to navigate the process successfully.

Info: Following a brief review of drainage design and the need for conservation drainage practices, the first day will include practice-specific sessions that cover site suitability, design principles, and hands-on application. Practices covered include drainage water management, saturated buffers, and bioreactors. If possible, each participant should bring a laptop to more easily complete the training exercises.

Info: The second day is geared toward participants who have interest in learning about and/or working through the Natural Resources Conservation Service's (NRCS) Technical Service Provider (TSP) certification process. Invited speakers will describe the general process, as well as walk through what a TSP can expect when working with NRCS at the local level. The training will conclude with two presentations focused on planning and implementing conservation drainage practices at the landscape scale using watershed modeling and alternative delivery approaches such as Batch & Build. For this session, registered participants will receive guidance about pre-training steps related to TSP certification.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher Illinois Central College and Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership