The First [Business] Day of Christmas: Day One Plenaries

On the first [business] day of Christmas, the Iowa Water Center gave to me…descriptions for Wednesday’s plenaries.

The following plenary sessions will be presented on March 23, 2016 at the Iowa Water Conference in Ames. Registration for the conference will open in January.

Water Quality in Iowa: What Does the Public Think?
Mary Losch, Professor & Director, Dept of Psychology & Center for Social & Behavioral Research, University of Northern Iowa

Issues of water quality are central to both the physical and the economic well-being of communities and states. Understanding the public’s knowledge of water quality and values placed on various dimensions of water quality is crucial to designing strategies to support evidence-informed decision-making about the issue. This presentation will describe a large statewide quantitative survey designed and conducted by the Center for Social and Behavioral Research at the University of Northern Iowa for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Beginning in February and concluding in early June 2015, more than 2000 adult Iowans were interviewed via telephone (both landline and cell phones) about their knowledge of and attitudes about water quality in the state. Computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) was used to collect data from a sample of adults in Iowa identified through random-digit dialing (RDD). Interview questions addressed 1) environmental literacy and general views on the environment; 2) understanding of water quality and causes of water pollution; 3) participation in recreational activities and/or employment involving water; 4) positive and negative environmental behaviors that could impact water quality; 5) views about and awareness of strategies for improving water quality; 6) perceptions of responsibility for improving water quality and willingness to pay (WTP) or invest in water quality improvement; and, 7) factors (e.g., demographic, sense of place, information sources) that could impact the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions assessed. Key findings from the survey will be presented and discussed.

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Zero Discharge City: Is this Real?
Brett Emmons, Sr. Water Resources Engineer, CEO, Emmons & Olivier Resources, EOR

Stormwater management in an over 3,000-acre, hydrologically land locked area in the City of Inver Grove Heights, MN became an obstacle for the community’s growth. The traditional stormwater management approach proved to be cost prohibitive. Driven by cost and impact concerns to the surrounding Marcott Lakes and Mississippi River, the City explored a new approach of strict, zero stormwater runoff discharge policy for all development in the area.

The paradigm shift from the traditional ‘pipe-and-pump’ to an enhanced low impact development (LID) approach was recognized as a new national trend with a 2015 National Excellence in Engineering Award. The enhanced LID-system significantly reduced the area’s initial infrastructure capital cost by $18 million and reduced lifecycle costs. “Argenta Hills”, one of the first developments in the area, proved to be very challenging. It included a large commercial retail and an extensive single family residential development. EOR took advantage of the site’s natural topography by maintaining its regional depressions, mimicking natural hydrology. Infiltration was maximized by strategically locating an extensive “Treatment Train System” of: raingardens, porous pavement areas, pervious paver intersections, vegetated swales, infiltration basins and stormwater harvesting. Not only did this approach reduce cost, it also helped in retaining some of the site’s unique natural characteristics and add amenities.

These new, creative approaches introduced by EOR, generated a new framework and opportunity for the cities to use this first-of-its-kind in the country approach to accomplish water quality and flood control protection.

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Think Outside the Treatment Plant to Improve Your Water Quality and Save Money
Eric Thompson, PE, CFM, Senior Water Resources Engineer, MSA Professional Services, Inc.

The City of Lodi, Wisconsin, received a future phosphorus limit of 0.075 mg/L for its wastewater treatment facility. Costs for upgrading the treatment facility to meet the new limit were compared to the anticipated costs of two new watershed-based compliance approaches called Adaptive Management and Nutrient Trading.

Adaptive Management requires that phosphorus loads in the watershed be reduced to the extent that the receiving stream attains the applicable water quality criterion within 20 years, while enabling the treatment facility to maintain a discharge of 0.5 mg/L phosphorus. Nutrient Trading is similar in that it allows reduction of phosphorus in the watershed. However, it does not require compliance to be measured within the stream. The trade-off for this is that nutrient trades must be made at a ratio higher than 1:1 making nutrient trading a safer, but perhaps more costly alternative.

The City of Lodi has prepared a preliminary assessment of alternatives to meet its future phosphorus limit and Adaptive Management would cost roughly half the cost of upgrading the facility. This presentation discusses the development and implementation of the City’s Adaptive Management Project. Elements included assessment of plant operations, sampling for water quality within the receiving stream, and modeling of urban, rural, and farmstead landscapes to determine phosphorus loads. The project also prioritized alternative management practices to reduce phosphorus in the watershed sufficient to achieve permit requirements for the treatment facility.

Now Hiring: A unique opportunity for science communicators

Our friends over at Iowa Learning Farms (ILF) and Water Rocks! (WR!) have a position open right now that you may want to take a look at. They’re hiring a Communications and Outreach Specialist for their programs – which sounds pretty standard, right? But there are so many reasons this job is unlike others in the same category.

  1. ILF and WR! are high energy programs with a small team that works very closely together. The right person for this job will appreciate working along side others and sharing knowledge and skills to achieve program goals.
  2. This communicator will not just spread information – they will have the opportunity to teach others (especially children) about natural resources. The Communications and Outreach Specialist won’t just be stuck in an office all day – they’ll get to mix it up by attending some of the many events ILF and WR! put on in schools, at fairs and other public places.
  3. This position isn’t just limited to communications – they’ll get to get their hands dirty by doing some agricultural field work. Now that’s something most communications jobs don’t offer.

If you or someone you know is passionate about natural resources, appreciates and understands scientific concepts, is great at engaging others, and thrives in a team environment, this might just be a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Really important things to know:

-This job requires a bachelor’s degree and 1 year of experience
-Applications are being accepted until 10/25/15
-You can apply online through Iowa State’s employment website

The position description is available online. We look forward to meeting our new colleague (wherever/whoever they are!) and wish ILF and WR! a happy hiring experience!

Side note: Iowa Water Center Rick Cruse participated this week in the ILF podcast series Conservation Chat – look for his interview coming soon.

2015 Iowa Water Conference Water Resources Priorities White Paper

We’ve been putting on the Iowa Water Conference in its current form for nearly a decade (2016 will be the 10th annual!). For the most part, we’ve got the successful conference formula down, but the conference planning committee is always looking to add in new elements to the conference to keep it relevant and fresh. In 2015, we had this idea: since the Iowa Water Conference brings together upwards of 400 water professionals, teachers, students and community members in one place, shouldn’t we find out what’s on their minds? And thus, the idea for a water resources priorities white paper was born.

At the end of the conference (after Neil Hamilton’s talk on the DMWW lawsuit), we invited people to stay for one final general session: a guided discussion on water resources in the state that would then be summarized into a white paper for distribution. Iowa Water Center Director Rick Cruse and the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities Director of Stormwater Services Pat Sauer led the discussion and took notes. Afterward, Dr. Cruse compiled the notes into a one page document that was then reviewed and edited by the conference committee and IWC’s Advisory Board. We’ve just started distribution of the document this month – starting with handing out copies at the Conservation Districts of Iowa Conference and a presentation to the Water Resources Coordinating Council last week.

The white paper is available on the Iowa Water Center website, and we recommend you read the entire thing. But in case you want the cliff notes version, here are some of the key points:

  1. There was a lack of call for greater investments of public money in Iowa’s natural resources- instead, stability of existing funding was repeatedly identified as imperative to successful and effective programs.
  2. Soil quality and soil management were highlighted as important to both urban and agricultural watersheds.
  3. The Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy was the most oft mentioned water quality topic, and attendees considered the establishment of goals and timelines, along with water monitoring, as vital to public acceptance of the strategy.
  4. Building partnerships and collaborating with one another was identified as critical to success. As an example, the most successful watershed projects have consistent coordinators that build partnerships among different stakeholders, broadening the circle of participants and resources with which to address problems.
  5. Education about soil and water related issues is a need in the state, both in the K-12 arena and for adults. It was suggested to have a statewide media campaign to raise watershed awareness.

The white paper gave us some insight to what’s important in the Iowa water landscape, but it also produces several questions. How can we address these priorities in an effective way? The document posted on the web provides five follow up questions. Continue the discussion. Use the questions as a discussion starter in your class, your family, with your legislator or watershed coordinator or neighbor. Then tell us what you come up with. We’re listening.

Iowa’s Soil and Water Conservation Districts – Good conference, good people

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, we headed down to Prairie Meadows in Altoona for the 2015 Iowa Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioners 69th Annual Conference. The Iowa Water Center has exhibited at the last three conferences, and we must say, it gets better every year. Clare Lindahl and her staff at Conservation Districts of Iowa work incredibly hard to put together a fun, informative conference with some big names in the business – the luncheon speaker on Tuesday was Kirk Hanlin, Assistant Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and on Wednesday, Iowa’s own Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey.

Our limited budget doesn’t allow us to exhibit at a lot of conferences each year, but we make sure to include this conference at the top of our list. We always see good friends, like Jamie Benning, who masterfully connects people and watersheds to Extension programming as the Water Quality Program Manager for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, and Jackie Comito with Iowa Learning Farms and Water Rocks! (who, by the way, was honored this past spring as a recipient of the National Wetlands Award).  We were happy to see we were positioned next to our perennial neighbor at this conference, Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. It gives us a chance to catch up with our colleagues – these are busy times in the Iowa water landscape, so we don’t always have the time to keep up with each other like we’d like to!

Another reason we keep coming back is the quality conversations we have with attendees of the conference. Our booth is boring compared to some others – we don’t hand out pens, or candy, or keychains – in fact, this year, we just had our display, Iowa Water Conference Save-the-Date postcards, and copies of our white paper of Water Resources Priorities from the 2015 Iowa Water Conference session. But the district commissioners don’t care that they won’t pick up a water bottle or a stress ball from us. They want to know who we are, what we do, what we’re working on, and how they can use us as a resource. These are elected officials who will go back home after two days of soaking up information and will use it to better soil and water conservation management in their district. There are 500 soil and water conservation district commissioners, and they want to talk to you (yes, you!) about what can be done in YOUR district for soil and water. Find contact information for your commissioners and have a conversation about conservation.

PRACTICES: A tale of grassed waterways

Guest post by John Gilbert of Gibralter Farms, an Iowa Century Farm raising dairy, pigs and crops in the South Fork [Iowa River] Watershed in Hardin County.

The folks of Gehrke Construction, Eldora, and the Hardin County office of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) recently finished shaping  what is now Gibralter Farms’ longest waterway.

About 1900 feet in length (three-eighth of a mile), the channel is designed to safely move water that runs off the surface of about 80 acres down 40 feet in elevation to where it can spread out in grass pastures before entering The Southfork, a tributary of the Iowa River.  (The channel will be seeded to sod-forming grass in the spring;  cross-channel fabric checks protect it until then.)  Part of the route has been a waterway for a long time, but recent years of heavier rains have re-enforced the need to control the water all the way across our crop fields.

This is the fourth waterway across this farm moving surface water from the uplands to the north to grass and wetland areas buffering The Southfork, all rebuilt since 2008.  Public money has helped cover half the cost on all but one reconstruction, and could be slightly more than $4,500 on this project.

In addition to the cash assistance, NRCS personnel provided engineering design and layout at no additional cost.  Even after spending 14 years as a commissioner for the Hardin County Soil and Water Conservation District, I’m challenged to explain just what the public gets for their investment in projects like ours.  Obviously, it facilitates getting it done, as it would be harder to budget the whole cost into any year’s expenses, but could be covered by cutting back on other improvements.  Cost share projects are designed to help keep soil from washing, and to protect water quality, and this project will have some benefit for both.

In the final analysis, the benefit is really more one of the public having some involvement in protecting the land, which really is a commonly held resource…one on which we all rely.  Recent trends in farming — with fewer owner-operators and more ownership physically and generationally removed from the land — have eroded (pun intended) the understanding that good soil stewardship is a responsibility that goes with the privilege of using the land.

Farms are not like Vegas; what happens here doesn’t stay here.  What we do as farmers affects us all.  That’s why we’re glad to get this project done.

Most people might not see bulldozed dirt as art, but a well shaped waterway is a thing of beauty.  One more thing to be thankful for.