Nonprofit Wings2Water awards $26K in grants to address water quality

The environmental nonprofit Wings2Water has awarded $26,000 to local organizations whose projects aim to address water quality in the Mississippi River watershed.

The grant money has been awarded to three groups: Linn County Conservation, the Izaak Walton League and the League of Women Voters.

The recipients will use the money for projects that improve water quality and raise awareness of nutrient pollution in the watershed.

“We’re proud to fund projects that both improve local water quality and educate the public on the urgent need for watershed restoration,” Marty Lenss, Wings2Water board president, said in the organization’s news release. “These efforts move us closer to our mission of improving local water quality, as well as a better understanding of the water quality issue in the Mississippi River watershed.”

What the projects entail

Linn County Conservation was awarded $15,000 — the largest of the three grants — to support construction of a pond and wetland area at Morgan Creek Park on the west edge of Cedar Rapids.

The project will include sculpting the landscape to create a wetland with pools of varying depths that can filter runoff from 145 acres of row crop farmland, aiming to reduce contamination in Morgan Creek.

The wetland will be built on 7 acres of land adjacent to the park that was donated to the county by the Cedar Rapids Community School District earlier this year.

Daniel Gibbins, deputy director of Linn County Conservation, said this project aligns with the county’s watershed improvement goals.

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“The Morgan Creek watershed is a source of water for the City of Cedar Rapids because it flows right to the Cedar River in the area where they have drinking wells,” Gibbins said. “It’s kind of a capstone project for the park and we're just really excited about it.”

The total cost of the project is estimated at $500,000. In addition to the Wings2Water grant, the conservation department received a grant of $176,000 from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. Funding for the project also will come from voter-approved county conservation bonds.

Dennis Goemaat, executive director of Linn County Conservation, said the project has been in the works for about four years and final designs are underway.

Gibbins said the department hopes to start construction for the wetlands this winter, but a project completion date has not been set yet.

The Izaak Walton League — a national conservation organization with local chapters — will use its $10,000 from Wings2Water for its Nitrate Watch Program.

With the funding, the nonprofit will provide more than 300 test kits to volunteers who help test water quality in Iowa’s local riverways.

Heather Wilson works as the Midwest Save Our Streams Coordinator for the Izaak Walton League, where she oversees the Nitrate Watch program.

Although Nitrate Watch is a national program, Wilson said the money awarded from Wings2Water will go toward Iowa water testing specifically.

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She said the bulk of the funding will go toward providing the 300 additional test kits, but a small portion will help fund travel expenses and the upkeep of Nitrate Watch’s database. Volunteers who take part in the water testing enter their results into the Clean Water Hub, a nationwide database that was developed by the Izaak Walton League.

In 2024, Wilson said Nitrate Watch received 3,445 water samples and test kit readings from Iowa volunteers alone.

To date, more than 64,000 water quality readings have been reported by volunteers nationwide, according to the hub’s website.

Wilson said the test kits will be free to Iowans who want to volunteer their time to test water.

“Removing that barrier to entry just makes it much easier for folks to get involved, and it makes it equitable, which is extremely important since water is something that affects all of us equally, no matter where you come from,” Wilson said. “We're super grateful for the support. Grants are a major component of our budget for this program and so Wings2Water is the latest and a long stream of important funders for this project.”

The League of Women Voters — the third recipient of a Wings2Water grant — will receive $1,000 to create a mobile educational “pop art” exhibit that will highlight landowners who model conservation best practices.

Specifically, the grant was awarded to the League of Women Voters Upper Mississippi River Region inter-league organization, which involves multiple local League Women Voters chapters pooling resources to focus on nutrient pollution reduction in both surface and groundwater in the Upper Mississippi River basin and the impact of climate change in the region.

The art display will aim to bring attention to local nutrient pollution and the importance of watershed health.

About Wings2Water

Lenss, director of the Eastern Iowa Airport launched Wings2Water in 2019 as a nonprofit focused on improving water quality in rivers and streams with the goal of reducing pollutants sent down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, which the Trump administration has the Gulf of America.

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Airport travelers can read about water quality and donate coins through a special “parking” meter at the Eastern Iowa Airport. Travelers also can round up their purchases at the Eastern Iowa Airport with the proceeds going to the organization.

In 2023 the organization awarded $25,000 in grants to Cedar Rapids’ Indian Creek Nature Center, Linn County Conservation, Iowa Rivers Revival, Friends of the Lakeside Lab in Okoboji and Iowa State Extension in Johnson County, for various amounts of funding.

Whether “it's your drinking water or if it's the water that you like to recreate in, it's really empowering to be able to know that the water that you're interacting with is safe,” Wilson said. “And also, to understand that it doesn't have to be that way.”

Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

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Comments: olivia.cohen@thegazette.com