Ditch fixes stabilize banks, stanch erosion Times Report Crookston Times A Pennington Soil & Water Conservation District project within three county ditch systems that outlet into the Red Lake River cut landowners’ immediate out-of-pocket ditch repair costs by about 75% while keeping topsoil in the fields and out of the river. The Red Lake River flows to the Red River, which feeds Lake Winnipeg. All three are impaired for sediment, which causes turbidity, degrades fish and wildlife habitat, and carries pollutants. The $248,820 project wrapped up in 2020 when contractors installed the last of 43 side-water inlets in the county ditch 96, 21 and 16 systems. Together with two grant-funded buffers, those grade-stabilization structures will keep an estimated 220 tons tons of sediment out of the Red Lake River annually. That’s the equivalent of nearly 17 dump truck loads.