South Dakota / Brookings County
Score 32 · moderate · #2 of 60 in SD
Crawl space moisture in Brookings County, SD
Brookings County scores moderate: no single wet-soil signal dominates its mapped acres. Where a seasonal water table is reported — 79% of acres — it averages 2.3 ft below grade.
- 1Water table 2.3 ft
- 2Wet soils 26%
- 3Moisture score 32
- 4EPA radon zone 1
Reading the Brookings County soil survey
The score of 32 combines four parts, each from the USDA survey: wet drainage classes contribute 22 points of 100 on their own scale, group D soils 32.8, a shallow water table 51.7, and flooding 16.4; the weights are on the methodology page. The dominant hydrologic group is C (58% of acres): slow infiltration (clay layers).
At 2.3 ft the seasonal water table is usually below a crawl-space floor, but the 79% of acres that report one are by definition the wettest parts of the county; on those lots, a wet spring can bring water close to the footings.
Brookings County against the rest of South Dakota
Brookings County ranks 2 of 60 South Dakota counties, 9 points above the state median of 23. Only 1 other county in the state score higher. Statewide, 9% of mapped soil is in the wet drainage classes; here it is 26%, half again the state figure or more. After well drained, the next most common class is somewhat poorly drained at 15%.
Flooding. 8.3% of acres with a flooding class are rated frequent; 12.3% of acres with a flooding class are rated occasional; 3.5% of acres with a flooding class are rated rare. That is a large flood-prone share; a crawl space in the floodplain needs flood vents under most local floodplain ordinances, which is a separate rule from R408 and can rule out a fully sealed design. Ponding — water standing at the surface with nowhere to go — affects 10.8% of acres.
What it means for a crawl space here
In a moderate county the soil record is mixed rather than uniformly wet, so conditions vary from lot to lot. Where the lot drains, the model-code default — a vented crawl space with 1 sq ft of net vent per 150 sq ft of floor, or 1 per 1500 with a Class I vapor retarder on the ground — is a reasonable starting point; where the sections above point to a shallow water table or flood-prone soil on your lot, plan as for an elevated county. Either way, check the site first: grading that falls away from the foundation, gutters and downspouts that discharge well clear of it, and a ground cover over bare earth. A wet crawl space in a moderate county points to one of those first.
Radon. Brookings County is in EPA radon zone 1, the highest predicted potential. A sealed crawl space and a radon system share most of their parts — the liner, the sealed seams, a fan — so if you are encapsulating, test for radon first and design both together. EPA itself says the zone map is not a reason to skip testing in zones 2 and 3.
Near Brookings County by score
Sources: USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access (muaggatt: drclassdcd, hydgrpdcd, flodfreqdcd, pondfreqprs, wtdepannmin), acreage-weighted (survey area SD011; drainage covers 98% of 514,829 mapped acres); EPA Map of Radon Zones, county table (June 2024 JSON); IRC R408.3 Unvented crawl space, as adopted in S.C. Code Regs. 8-1221 (LII). Checked 2026-10-23.