Water quality is an issue that all of us have a stake in. It does not matter if we are in rural or urban locations, we all benefit from cleaner water. As we kick off Soil and Water Conservation week in Iowa, the contrast of urban and rural ways of life served as the backdrop for the ribbon cutting for a storm water runoff project in Ankeny.
Governor Kim Reynolds and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig attended the ribbon cutting of the Ankeny city storm water runoff project at Four Mile Creek, on Monday. The Governor used the event to sign the proclamation declaring it to be Iowa Soil and Water Conservation Week.
Engineers who worked on the project talked about how the system works. Runoff from 36th street and neighboring developments will meander down to the first filter, which is a concrete bay designed to filter out silt and large particles. The concrete allows the city to easily perform cleanup and maintenance. The water then snakes around a winding path of different depths and with different kinds of vegetation. This allows the water to be filtered even more before it reaches its destination, Four Mile Creek.Even with the filtering vegetation dormant, the project already has made the water entering the creek cleaner than before the project started.
Mallard Drake swimming in Four Mile Creek Watershed. Photo by Dustin Hoffmann
Secretary Naig pointed out that projects like this one do not work without the cooperation of many groups.
Naig also discussed the importance of highlighting projects like this during Soil and Water Conservation Week.
Four Mile Creek Storm Water Project. Photo: Dustin Hoffmann
