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manholes are 42 inches in diameter and range in depth from eight to twelve feet. In addition,there are 15 groundwater pumps throughout the 200,000 acre service area of SCBID that evacuate drainage water out of sumps in closed basins that have no other discharge capabilities(i.e.,into wasteways or irrigation canals). The SCBID drainage system was initiated during the late 1950s,with additional improvements and additions occurring well into the late 1970s. Thus,it is about 30+years old. The cost of the SCBID drainage system is estimated to have been about 30 million dollars(1970 prices),based on an average cost of about$25,000 per mile of drain,plus an additional 45%in overhead planning and design costs borne by the federal agency engineers and economists(i.e.,Reclamation). At today's prices and technology,the cost of the system might range from$10 to$12 per linear foot,or$70 to$80 million for the 1200 miles of drains. The entire SCBID drainage system is maintained by three employees;one superintendent drainage technician and two field staff crew members. Excluding salaries and the financing of equipment originally purchased to maintain the drainage system,the annual budget for managing the drainage system of SCBID is about$13,000(i.e.,for materials and supplies). The major pieces of equipment purchased over the years for the subsurface drainage maintenance operation include a high-pressured jet cleaner($70,000),a 4000 gallon water truck($40,000),a six inch vacuum rig($50,000),a transmitter and receiver for locating and mapping buried tile drains($1,500),and a video inspection camera($40,000). A set of PowerPoint slides on the SCBID drainage maintenance program, including photos of the most important pieces of equipment for the program,are shown in the CD accompanying this proposal. Drainage assessments on the landowners under SCBID are levied on a per acre basis,without consideration of soil type or length of drains in a particular block/unit of the irrigation system. All lands in the district are considered to benefit from the drainage system,whether irrigated lands have drains or not. The O&M cost for the drainage system is a line item in the SCBID budget. Rural residential subdivisions may cause problems with the drainage system, such as the planting of trees/windbreaks around the residential lot. If a problem persists,a resolution is passed by the irrigation district to assess the subdivision an additional charge beyond what landowners are usually being assessed. In interviews with the staff of SCBID concerning the potential rehabilitation of the Lower Arkansas Valley subsurface and surface drainage system,the following ideas were explored: 1. The 25 drainage districts in the Lower Arkansas Valley may want to consider consolidating all of their activities together into one operational unit or drainage district authority. Even if this consolidation were to occur,the combined drainage system for the Lower Arkansas Valley (approximately 84 miles of tile drains and 107 miles of surface drains)would be measurably smaller than the 1200 miles and 3000 manholes managed by the three SCBID employees. Consolidation would provide the Lower Arkansas Valley growers with economies-of-scale in the use of drainage maintenance equipment,personnel,overall planning,purchasing of materials and supplies,etc. 2. Training of drainage district maintenance people would key off practices and technologies found in the sewer maintenance industry today. In fact,the entire SCBID drainage operation largely emulates the sewer industry,in terms of both equipment and methods of maintenance. 3. In purchasing equipment,the Lower Arkansas Valley drainage districts would look to acquiring used maintenance equipment. Arkansas Valley growers could possibly share the cost of some of the above-mentioned equipment with surrounding towns as well. The SCBID did rely on the City 11