By Jason Hancock jason@dmcityview.com

Soaking in conservation

State re-focuses efforts on urban water runoff

Historically, rainwater stayed where it fell, soaking into prairie soils to replenish groundwater. But as development has spread, and more rooftops, pavement and compacted turf replace the natural landscape, rainwater is often sent into storm sewers where it ends up in our streams and rivers, along with the pollutants it carries with it.

Across the nation, a trend is developing in land development that focuses more closely on ways to mimic the way natural areas store and infiltrate rainwater to avoid polluting waterways.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship recently added five new staff members to help communities, developers and homeowners prevent storm water runoff from carrying soil, garbage, fertilizer and other pollutants into rivers, lakes and streams. Called urban conservation, techniques include rain gardens, bio-retention cells and pervious pavement. These allow water, and everything it carries, to infiltrate rather than just runoff into our storm sewers and eventually the state’s waterways.

“In Iowa, we have historically targeted agriculture when we’ve talked about soil and water quality,” said Wayne Petersen, urban conservationist with the Iowa Division of Soil Conservation. “Now we are taking a closer look at urban settings.”

Peterson said the large swaths of impervious surfaces, like blacktop, vastly increase the amount of runoff that ends up in local streams and rivers. His organization is focusing its efforts on new construction to try to change the way developers and local communities view land use and water quality issues.

“We want to try to encourage people to use techniques that mimic what a prairie does naturally,” he said. “Things like permeable pavement and rain gardens help filter the water and release it slowly, as opposed to just running off pavement into storm sewers.”

Jennifer Welch, an urban conservationist with the Polk County Soil and Water Conservation District, said there is some urgency to the call for low impact development, as doing it wrong will cost more down the road to fix.

“There is always a bit of resistance when you are talking about changing the way things have been done for decades,” she said. “But developers are seeing the benefit of this type of development and are starting to embrace these methods.”

Welch said the state is working with local officials to try to change requirements for development, as well as working with developers to educate them on what can be done.

In addition to new construction, the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is trying to educate the public about what it can do to improve water quality. Simple things such as washing your car in the yard as opposed to the driveway to avoid runoff and not blowing grass clippings into the street, can make a difference.

“The low hanging fruit is new development,” Petersen said. “We can make major strides there. But historically, we’ve done everything wrong when it comes to water quality and development, so it will be a huge task in the future to retrofit the built world.”

A majority of land use is residential, so Petersen said regulation has to be made at a local level, lot by lot.

“The key is to make water work to get off the landscape,” Welch said. “It’s something everyone can assist in.”

Companies like Hubbell Realty are embracing these types of techniques, Welch said, and finding that potential buyers are actually enticed by the new features, such as increased green space and native plant species.

“They have a development in Johnston where half the site is green space,” she said. “There is great value to that.”

Petersen said developers can actually save money when they build in this way because it means they won’t have to install storm sewers, a huge expense for new construction. In the future, communities that commit to green development will “have a quality of life that will appeal to residents and business, thus a real advantage over the developments that haven’t committed,” Petersen said. CV

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