LETTER: Be thankful for field tile

Every now and then field tile gets the blame for stream and river flooding. First consider the three major contributors to such flooding:

' Runoff from all hard surfaces

' Runoff from all roofs of all structures

' Runoff from soil that can't hold any more water

Now the drain tile fact. Tile are installed to remove excess water from the soil profile. They do this in a very gradual way 24 hours a day continually making room for more water that will go into soil next time it rains, instead of running off into streams.

Next time flooding occurs be thankful to the person who installed tile and made room for water in the soil instead of suing him. That same water could have been in your basement instead of in the soil.

Tom Arp

Fairfax