1. Incorporating a hybrid drainage and wetland design project
system into engineering teaching
Dr. Xinhua Jia, Professor and P.E.
Director of ND Water Resources Research Insitute
Department of Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering
North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND
11th International Drainage Symposium
Des Moise, IA August 31, 2022

2. ABEN 484/684
Drainage and Wetland Engineering
• Course Description
• Drainage and wetland engineering principles, design, and
water quality for agricultural and natural resources
applications. Topics include soil, water, and plant
relationships, water movement in soils, water quality
(nitrogen and salinity), surface drainage, subsurface
drainage and its modeling, and wetlands.

3. Course Objectives
• To understand the fundamental process of soil water movement
and soil-water-plant relationships on drainage and wetland
systems.
• To understand the water quality issues associated with drainage
and wetland systems.
• To design drainage and wetland systems for agricultural and
natural resources practices, including surface drainage,
subsurface drainage, water table control, and removal of
pollutants.

4. ABEN Department Educational Objectives and
Program Outcomes
Educational Objective 1: Provide students with technical knowledge, design, and problem solving skills that
are foundational to their engineering careers by ensuring that graduates have ability to:
a. Apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering.
b. Design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data.
c. Design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as
economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability.
e. Identify, formulate, and solve engineering problems.
k. Use techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice.
Educational Objective 2: Provide learning experiences that build interpersonal and collaborative skills and the
capacity for productive careers by ensuring that graduates have:
d. An ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams.
f. An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility.

5. Course Evaluation
12%
8%
20%
20%
20%
20%
Homework
Quiz
Design Project
Exam 1
Exam 2
Final Exam

6. Fall 2010
Six students enrolled:
1. 4 undergraduate and 2 graduate students;
2. One graduate student in distance learning;
3. Two exchange students who were absent for most classes (couldn’t get up at
8:00 am); and
4. Three students in the classroom with one often late.
No design projects, but incorporated into a big design homework.
Found non-engineering students couldn’t catch up the course.
Changed the pre-req for the course with CE309 – Intro to hydraulics or SOIL 433 –
Soil physics

7. Fall 2012
Enrollment: 6 students with 5 undergraduate and 1 graduate students, and 1 student dropped near final
Major: ABEN, NRM
Groups: 2 groups for the same title – Tile drainage for wetland
Project type: Real world project at a farmer’s field
Summary and pitfalls:
1. Conducted a field trip to survey the field
2. Collected soil samples and analyzed soil for design at the laboratory
3. Tile drainage was installed in the field, and a constructed wetland might be installed
4. Conducted an external review and evaluation for students’ design project presentation
5. Wrote very good quality final project reports
6. Complained about too much work by several undergraduate students due to their tight class
schedules

8. Class Projects 2014
Enrollment: 12 with 7 undergraduate and 5 graduate students
Major: ABEN, NRM, SOIL, CE
Groups: 2 for tile drainage design, and 3 for wetland design
Project type: Hybrid – real location but simplified situation
Tile drainage projects:
Tile drainage design in Richland, ND
Tile drainage design in Clay, MN
Wetland projects:
Wetland mitigation;
Wetland for tile drainage water treatment; and
Wastewater treatment for a man camp
Pitfalls:
Three exchange students w/o design background dragged the design projects
Final project reports showed good quality in certain sections, but poor quality in others

9. Design projects in 2016
Enrollment: 12 with 8 undergraduate and 4 graduate students
Major: ABEN
Groups: 3 for tile drainage design, and 3 for wetland design.
Project type: Hybrid – real location but simplified situation
Tile drainage projects:
1. Tile drainage design in Richland, ND
2. Tile drainage design in Clay, MN
3. Tile drainage design in a second field in Richland, ND
Wetland projects:
Wetland mitigation;
Wetland for tile drainage water treatment; and
Wastewater treatment for irrigation
Summary:
Good student design project presentation, report, and communication.
Three students did a senior design with additional design objectives.
Several students ended up working with Drainage, NRCS and others related to water resources.

10. Fall 2018
Enrollment: 12 with 9 undergraduate and 3 graduate students
Major: ABEN, NRM
Groups: 3 for tile drainage design, and 3 for wetland design
Project type: Hybrid – real location but simplified situation
Tile drainage projects:
Tile drainage design in Richland, ND
Tile drainage design in Clay, MN
Tile drainage design in Eddy, ND – a student’s family farm
Wetland projects:
Wetland mitigation;
Wetland for tile drainage water quality improvement; and
Wastewater treatment for animal feedlot
Summary:
Good student presentation, report, and communication
Students presentations at the end of the semester. Better move it to the section when it was
ended with fresh memories.

11. Fall 2020
Enrollment: 11 with 7 undergraduate and 4 graduate students
Major: ABEN, ECS
Groups: 3 for tile drainage design, and 3 for wetland design
Project type: Hybrid – real location but simplified situation
Tile drainage projects:
Tile drainage design in Richland, ND
Tile drainage design in Clay, MN
Tile drainage design in Walsh, ND – a student’s family farm
Wetland projects:
Wetland mitigation;
Wetland for tile drainage water quality improvement; and
Wetland for animal wastewater treatment
Summary:
Good student presentation, report, and communication
Students presentations in different sections
Wetland for animal wastewater treatment needs to be simplified for one parameter

12. Summary
 Using a hybrid design project that has a real-world location and situation, but a
simplified design objects, students learned to work as a team to design a tile drainage
and a wetland systems.
 Students were able to gain hands-on design experience without facing intensive data
collection, soil and water sample analysis, and field visits.
 Each design project was structured with clear milestones, such as brainstorm design
alternatives, regular meetings with minutes, draft report, presentations, Q/A, external
and internal reviews, and final report.

13. Future Suggestions
 Encourage student to bring their own design projects
 Give more design examples in the class
 don’t assume they know it, but assume they don’t know it
 Be available to students, and work with students who need help
 Pay close attention to students’ communications
 don’t ignore a problem

14. Thank you!
Dr. Xinhua Jia
Xinhua.Jia@ndsu.edu
701-306-4985