Clean water starts upstream

What Is a Watershed?

A watershed is all the land that drains into a common body of water — like a river, lake, or stream. When it rains or snows, water flows downhill. In forests or grasslands, most of that water soaks into the ground. But in cities or on farm fields, water moves quickly across pavement or soil, picking up pollution as it goes.

That’s why cities, farmers, and conservation groups must work together — to keep our water clean and safe for everyone.

Why It Matters Here

Cedar Rapids sits in the Cedar River Watershed, a 7,485-square-mile area stretching from southern Minnesota to the Iowa River. The Cedar River provides water for drinking, recreation, and wildlife.

Our city gets drinking water from alluvial wells along the river. One major concern is nitrate pollution from upstream farm fields. Nitrate levels are rising across the region, but Cedar Rapids has never exceeded federal drinking water standards for nitrates. We are working to keep it that way.

Partnering for Clean Water

In 2021, Cedar Rapids and its partners launched the Cedar River Source Water Partnership (CRSWP) to protect water quality. The City received a $7 million USDA grant:

“Cover crops have been the hot topic lately, but we don’t want to lose sight of our neighbors … [when we] start with waterways, there is a lot of ways we can do more for conservation and we need to keep pushing forward,” said Jim O’Connell, of O’Connell Farms. O’Connell currently has multiple in-field and edge-of-field practices in place to reduce runoff contaminants that reach the waterways.

On-the-Ground Solutions

Through the Cedar River Clean Water Partnership, we’re helping landowners install Edge-of-Field practices — like saturated buffers and bioreactors — which can reduce nitrates by up to 60%.

Dan Voss, farmer and longtime advocate for the watershed program said, “We can’t force people to do it, but if we get a five-inch rain it’s clear to see that these systems handle it better than the traditional methods.”

How the program works:

These tools work even better alongside cover crops, no-till, and stream buffers.

Robert Broulik, Linn County Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioner promotes the work, saying, “Every year the acres utilizing no-till and cover crops are increasing, and more structures are getting installed. I know we want things to move faster, but we need to just keep moving forward the right way.”

Science and Stewardship

For over 20 years, the City has partnered with groups like Coe College, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Iowa DNR to monitor water in the Cedar River and its tributaries. This helps us identify pollution hot spots and target solutions where they’re needed most.

According to the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA), data collected from our farmers has shown considerable decreases in nitrates alone.

For example, water entering a restored wetland carried 13 Milligrams per Liter, 3mg/L above the federal drinking water limit of 10 mg/L. Water leaving the wetland carried just 1.71 mg/L.

The monitoring data shows almost all the water leaving the practices, including cover crops, bioreactors and no-till, has been below 10 mg/L even when the incoming concentrations were much higher. So we know that the practices work and we are verifying it to demonstrate the value.

Edge of field practices such as saturated buffers and denitrifying bioreactors can reduce nitrates from one field alone by 45% or greater. In-field practices such as no tillage, with a combination of cover crops can reduce nitrates by 50% or greater as compared to traditional tillage with no cover crops. Wetlands alone can decrease nitrates by up to 90% while also providing additional habitat for birds, amphibians, and even small fish.

None of these practices can lay claim to being a ‘silver bullet’ for water quality; equalizing productive farm ground, water quality, and our communities is a challenge. However, small parcels of land or edges of the field taken out of production have proved to reduce nutrient loss which keeps nitrates on crops where it is intended to stay, improving yields and producing a higher-quality product for farmers. The city is actively seeking farmers to participate in the program. These practices rely on the engagement and investment of our agricultural community. Our watershed covers approximately 1.2 million acres and the more projects we implement, the greater the impact we can have in our waterways.

On this, Iowa Soybean Association Conservation Agronomist Evan Brehm said, “Farmers are willing to do what needs to be done for our communities and are successfully maintaining yields: feeding, fueling, and clothing the world on less land.”

Looking Ahead

Clean water does not begin at the tap — it begins on the land, in our rivers, and in the actions we take to protect them. Together, through strong partnerships and smart practices, we are building a healthier watershed for today and tomorrow.

Roy Hesemann is director of the City of Cedar Rapids Utilities Department.