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News
DNR-Funded
Conservation
Practices Reduce Water Pollution in 2009
Posted 26 February
2010
More than 37,000 tons of soil are staying put on the land and out of
Iowa streams and lakes, thanks to conservation practices installed in
fiscal year 2009, according to numbers released by the DNR.
Put that amount of soil in dump trucks, and you’d have a line of trucks
almost 12 miles long. The numbers indicate that conservation practices
on agricultural and urban land are effectively reducing pollutants
reaching Iowa’s water. Local watershed projects work with landowners to
install conservation practices in a watershed, which is an area of land
that drains into a lake or stream. Common conservation practices
include wetlands, ponds, terraces and buffers.
Each year, the DNR helps fund a number of local watershed projects that
help Iowans improve their water. Of those projects, 43 reported
constructing a total of 577 conservation practices during federal
fiscal year (FFY) 2009. From Oct. 1, 2008 to Sept. 30, 2009, those
conservation practices had the following results:
- Reduced sediment
reaching streams and lakes by at least 37,249 tons per year.
- Reduced phosphorus
reaching streams and lakes by at least 48,421 pounds per year.
- Reduced nitrogen
reaching streams and lakes by at least 71,065 pounds per year.
One successful local
watershed effort is at Staff and Beaver creeks in Howard County, where
practices installed since 2006 are collectively reducing sediment
delivery to streams and lakes by 7,114 tons per year – enough to fill
one and a half Olympic-sized swimming pools – and phosphorus loading by
11,763 pounds per year.
These conservation practices will continue to reduce pollutants at the
same rate if properly maintained. The new numbers apply only to
practices installed in 2009 through DNR-funded watershed projects and
do not reflect the total effects of all conservation practices in the
state.
“Iowans are taking ownership of their streams, lakes and rivers, and
these numbers show they’re making great strides in improving them,”
said Steve Hopkins, with the DNR’s watershed improvement program.
“These numbers only represent a small number of projects in one year.
We’re excited to continue working with Iowans to further their
watershed improvement efforts.”
The DNR has tracked annual sediment and phosphorus load reductions
since 2004. Practices installed through DNR watershed projects since
2004 now collectively reduce sediment reaching Iowa’s waters by 130,947
tons per year and phosphorus loading by 202,312 pounds per year.
The DNR, in cooperation with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and
Land Stewardship – Division of Soil Conservation and the USDA Natural
Resources Conservation Service, is currently accepting applications for
grant funding for new watershed efforts. More information is available
at www.iowadnr.gov/water/watershed/. The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency provides DNR funding for nonpoint pollution programs.
Sediment can make water cloudy, damage the habitat of fish and other
aquatic life, and fill in lakes and streambeds. High levels of
nutrients, like phosphorus, can cloud the water, increase drinking
water costs and lead to poor aquatic life diversity. |
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