Watershed, Sweet Watershed

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by Teresa Opheim

Note:The following article is reprinted from the Summer 2000 Iowa Natural Heritage magazine. For more information, visit our list of related resource links about watershed protection.

Raindrops fall from a stormy Iowa sky, and a journey begins.

The drops splatter on cropland and run into Purgatory Creek in Calhoun County. Water pours into the creek from a maze of underground tile lines designed to drain soggy land. Rain continues to splash into the Purgatory as the waterway flows through a gently winding valley of pastureland.

Ten miles downstream, Purgatory Creek empties into the Raccoon River and is swept along as more water surges in from cropped fields and tile lines. Water enters more slowly where the river banks are lined with grasses and trees. The Raccoon rolls along to Des Moines-some of it passing in and out of the metro's water system-then joins the Des Moines River and flows, ceaselessly, to the Mississippi and down to the Gulf of Mexico.

Small Purgatory Creek and the land that drains to it-its watershed-feeds the larger Raccoon and Des Moines watersheds, and together, with many others, they make up one of the world's most massive, the Mississippi.

We all have a watershed address, a way of identifying our place that is perhaps just as important as our street address. How is the land used in your watershed? That land use is key to our water quality - and the quality of the water downstream.

Our sewage treatment plants and industries discharge massive amounts of water with some remaining pollutants. Water contaminated by oil from our cars and trucks runs from streets and parking lots into our rivers. Pesticides and fertilizers designed to keep grass green enter our waters from lawns, golf courses, and parks.

Two-thirds of Iowa is planted to row crops, and million of pounds of pesticides and nitrogen - from both commercial fertilizers and animal manure - are added to corn and soybean fields each year. These additives sometimes run off fields and through Iowa's tile lines to our surface waters and our precious groundwater, the source of drinking water for most Iowans. Vast quantities of manure from large concentrations of animals also can flow from accidental spills.

Iowa was once a land where prairie held the soil in place; now that cover is missing. The price we pay is our number one source of surface water pollution: soil erosion. Row cropping is responsible for much of this erosion, but urban practices such as development that strips the land of any cover also send large sediment loads into our rivers when it rains.

Yet, while these practices take a great toll on our waters, in many places our watersheds benefit from careful management. When we bring back the prairie, soil is held in place. When wetlands are restored and created, they trap pollutants and keep them from entering waterways.

Many farmers are using wise practices, such as no-till farming (which leaves crop residue on the ground) and keeping livestock away from fragile streambanks. Buffers are becoming common along Iowa's waters, returning the grasses and trees that serve as sponges and living filters for our waterways.

The coming years are crucial and exciting times for the long-term health of Iowa's watersheds. Iowans have demanded that water quality be a priority, and our leaders have responded with initial funding for watershed protection. This year, the Iowa Legislature also provided funding for many practices that will improve water quality, such as buffers and wetland creation and restoration. A lot more resources will be needed.

The state has begun developing a strong professional water monitoring network. In addition, more and more volunteers are out gathering baseline information about the health of their streams, guided by a new statewide volunteer monitoring program, IOWATER.

So a look at the Purgatory Creek watershed - and your watershed as well - is about more than an exploration of water's path. It's also a look at what we do on the land-and fail to do-to protect water as it flows through Iowa on that incredible run to the sea.

Teresa Opheim works for the Iowa Environmental Council and lives in the watershed of the Chariton River.

Watershed Resources

Publications
Iowa - Portrait of the Land This book, recently mailed to you by the Foundation, has a poetic and informational description of Iowa and water and its life-giving cycle. For additional copies, call the Iowa Department of Natural Resources at 515-281-5918.

Iowa Water Pollution Written by the Iowa Association of Naturalists, this publication provides a good overview of what we're adding to our waters and what we can do about it. Order the publication through Iowa State University Extension Publications: www.exnet.iastate.edu/Pages/pubs.

Websites
Surf Your Watershed: Enter your zip code or click on a map to find your home, and the website will tell you in which watershed you live. It also will display water quality information for your watershed. www.epa.gov/surf

Know Your Watershed: This site teaches you about what it means to live in a watershed: the science of watersheds, how to help put together watershed plans, and more. www.ctic.purdue.edu

Organizations
Iowa Environmental Council: The Council is dedicated, in part, to improving Iowa's water quality. On the website, you can find information about Iowa's impaired waters, water quality and your health, what programs can help your watershed, and more. www.earthweshare.org or phone 515/244-1194.

IOWATER: Find out about Iowa's new and exciting volunteer water monitoring program - and how to be a part. www.iowater.net. Or call Rich Leopold, coordinator for the program, at 515/281-3252.


For information about local watershed alliances near you, contact your county conservation board.

For more information, e-mail Cathy Engstrom, director of communications, or call (515) 288-1846.