Watershed success story

Volunteers, expertise and commitment combined to clear up Clear Creek. The 12-year-old Clear Creek Watershed Enhancement Project is a testament to persistence and what citizens can do to help restore more of Iowa's 500-plus impaired waterways and better manage the watersheds that feed them.

The Clear Creek Watershed Enhancement Project's mission is not complete. But pollution levels are down substantially, The Gazette reported this week. And the creek, which empties into the Iowa River at Coralville, could within a year or two join the short list of Iowa streams and lakes that are no longer on the federal Environmental Protection Agency's impaired waters list.

The Clear Creek project's signature achievement was completion of a lagoon treatment system that replaced faulty septic systems in the Iowa County village of Conroy just over a year ago. Largely credited was Coralville resident Dave Ratliff, a monitoring volunteer with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources IOWATER program. Ratliff first noticed several irregularities in the creek near Conroy in 2003. That led, with the help of colleague Don Lund, to an even bigger discovery: sewage flowing from Conroy septic systems through a tile that surfaced to form the head of Clear Creek. Ratliff relentlessly pushed to get the pollution stopped.

Since 1998, DNR IOWATER has trained citizen volunteers such as Ratliff to monitor the quality of streams, gather information and identify problems. DNR officials state that IOWATER “is committed to developing local working partnerships and sharing information and resources among state and federal agencies.”

The Clear Creek project involves so many government agencies that it can be confusing. It's under the direction of the Johnson County Soil and Water Conservation district. Its coordinator, James Martin, works for the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. The federal Natural Resources Conservation Service assists. Collectively, they advised the Clear Creek group and also helped fund more conservation practices among farmers that are contributing to lower pollution levels.

All told, IOWATER is a partnership of more than a dozen education, conservation, environmental and government agencies. Their expertise is critical.

Just as important is the dedication of volunteers such as Ratliff, who extend agencies' reach and serve as citizen models to inspire other Iowans to help protect and enhance our priceless natural resources.