For overgrowth, debris or a blockage in a roadside ditch, Hillsborough County provides a right-of-way maintenance request. Start with the condition and exact location, not an assumption that the County owns or maintains every ditch beside a home. County maintenance guidance

If flooding is already creating a safety concern or blocking access, call 813-635-5400 instead of entering an online request. That instruction appears on the County’s drainage form. For other water emergencies, use the separate street-water reporting guide.

Mowing, debris and overflowing drainage use different categories

The County’s linked maintenance form is titled “Maintenance (Right of Way).” Its choices include:

  • Roadside/Ditch Mowing for the mowing category.
  • Roadside Debris Removal for roadside debris.
  • Other when the listed maintenance categories do not describe the concern.

The separate Drainage Concerns form includes Overflowing Drainage Ditch and Street Flooding. A ditch needing vegetation maintenance and a ditch overflowing during a storm are different reporting questions, even when they occupy the same location.

Describe what you can observe; let staff decide whether the problem requires maintenance, a drainage investigation or referral. Public Works lists both ditch maintenance and stormwater investigations among its functions. Department scope

Give staff a location they can find

The maintenance form asks for the incident date, service location, ZIP code, concern and contact information. It also provides a location-description field for an unmatched address, with examples such as the nearest intersection or folio number.

Use this fill-in description as a starting point, not as a County-required script:

The ditch is beside ___ Road, near ___ intersection, on the ___ side. I noticed ___ on ___. The affected stretch runs from ___ to ___. The address lookup did/did not identify the location. Please confirm which agency maintains this segment and whether this request is in the correct category.

Do not identify an underground pipe as broken simply because water is present. A photograph or location description documents an observation, not the cause.

Decide about photos and tracking before submitting

The maintenance form says an account is required to attach files. Registered users can also track progress, receive case emails and access request history. A guest option is available, but it does not provide the same tracking access.

The form warns that submitted material is subject to public-record requests and cannot be removed through the form after submission. Keep unrelated personal information out of descriptions and photographs.

Save the case number if one is issued. For a routing or follow-up question, Public Works lists 813-635-5400. Ask whether the case needs more location detail, has been referred, or records completed work; those are different outcomes. Public Works contact

What was checked

LSL read the County maintenance and department pages and inspected both live request forms on September 13, 2026. The form comparison and fill-in description are our synthesis. No request was submitted and no ditch, ownership boundary or completed repair was inspected.