09011-008 Walnut Creek Final Report

Walnut Creek is a Class B warm water stream located in northern Poweshiek County. The creek is sixteen miles in length with 26,223 acres of watershed area. Walnut Creek is listed on the 2008 impaired waters list as biologically impaired. Based on results of biological monitoring, no specific causes of the impairment have been identified. This watershed is of particular significance to the Poweshiek SWCD and the state of Iowa because water quality protection efforts can be implemented that will address the impairment. The Poweshiek SWCD received a watershed development grant in 2005, to complete a watershed assessment for the Walnut Creek Watershed. The results of the assessments showed an estimated 23,224 tons of sediment are delivered annually to Walnut Creek, and, about 34% of land in the watershed is delivering nearly 66% of the sediment. Therefore, the acres with more than 1 ton/ac/yr sediment delivery have been prioritized. In Jan. 2008, an implementation grant began. The 1st year’s EQIP matching funds were obligated by July 2008. Specific objectives are to: 1) Reduce sediment delivery by 3,205 tons, by installing conservation practices on the sediment delivery areas of more that 1 ton/ac/yr, and, 2) Develop an information and education program for landowners. The District has prioritized the Walnut Creek watershed for 50% EQIP funding to be combined with 25% WSPF funds. This application is for additional practice funds, utilized as 50% cost-share, to be used with 25% WSPF funds, for eligible soil loss projects (>1 ton/ac), when EQIP funds are not available.

09002-001 Indian Springs Pond Watershed Final Report

Silver Creek is a warm water stream resource located in one of the most intensely cropped portions of Clayton County. The stream has been included on Iowa’s 303(d) list of impaired waters since 2002. Aquatic life, which should be present in Silver Creek, isn’t there. According to the Draft Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for Silver Creek, the primary nonpoint pollution sources are soil erosion from agricultural land uses and direct deposition of ammonia by livestock with access to the stream. The Clayton Soil & Water Conservation District has begun efforts to remove Silver Creek from the impaired waters list. The District has promoted stream corridor and sinkhole protection, and the installation of buffer practices along Silver Creek and its tributaries. Conservation practices have been targeted to crop fields to reduce sediment delivery to the stream. A series of news articles, newsletters, and field days have been utilized to increase public understanding of water quality issues. Landowner interest has outweighed available cost share resources. Additional financial support will allow the project to build upon its early successes, to further address the identified impairments, and to respond to a long list of landowners that are interested in conservation work on their farms.

08012-008 Lake Morris Final Report

Lake Morris is the larger of two lakes which serve as the municipal water supply for the City of Chariton, Iowa. As a site for fishing and boating, it also serves as a significant recreational resource for area residents. Its ability to sustain these uses has been significantly impaired by long-term and ongoing accumulation of sediment and sediment-borne nutrients from both public and private land within the watershed. This accumulation has resulted in reduced water depth, reduced water-holding capacity, reduced quality of the fishery, increased water turbidity, increased growth of undesirable algae, and increased cost of treating the water for municipal uses. Water quality projects undertaken in the past, notably the Lucas Lakes Project of the 1990s, made important progress in reducing sedimentation from privately-owned land higher in the watershed, but paid little attention to land owned by the City of Chariton immediately surrounding the lakes. A recent reassessment of gully erosion within the watershed shows serious, ongoing erosion on that City-owned land. This project proposes a two-part approach to improving the water quality in Lake Morris. First, we propose that a complement of five SolarBee water circulation devices be installed in Lake Morris to provide near-term and continuing improvements in water quality, by inhibiting cyanobacterial growth and thereby removing the need for treatment of the lakes with copper sulfate. Second, we propose the installation of erosion-control structures on primarily City-owned land surrounding the lake, to provide a major reduction in ongoing sedimentation.

08004-001 Summit Lake Final Report

The Summit Lake Watershed Improvement Project is a watershed-based sediment control project designed to greatly reduce to nearly eliminate sedimentation of an existing lake that is being renovated for use as a water source in southern Iowa. Summit Lake is owned by the City of Creston and was once a water source lake until around 1984. The watershed improvements will include lakeshore stabilization and erosion control practices as a precursor for related improvements to the lake and overall 4,900-acre watershed. Best practices included in this phase are the implementation of riprap, a rain garden, grade stabilization structures, grassed waterways, terraces, basins, water use and access ordinances, education and outreach, water monitoring, and other stream bank improvements. These improvements, along with leveraged work to be done by strategic partners, will enable the lake to be used for local and regional water supplies by sustaining the lake for many years to come. Without the lake rehabilitation, the lake will likely be filled with sedimentation to the point that it will have no recreational value. Key partners are the City of Creston, IDNR, Southern Iowa Rural Water Association, Union County, the Union County NRCS office, Southwestern Community College, and the Summit Lake Association, which is a non-profit group of landowners working to protect the lake. The project will address WIRB targets: a) streambank stabilization, b) livestock runoff, c) agricultural runoff and drainage, d) stormwater runoff, and e) a section of inadequately sewered community.

Electronic Construction Collaboration System – Final Phase, SPR RB02-008, 2014

This phase of the research project involved two major efforts: (1) Complete the implementation of AEC-Sync (formerly known as Attolist) on the Iowa Falls Arch Bridge project and (2) develop a web-based project management system (WPMS) for projects under $10 million. For the first major effort, AEC-Sync was provided for the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) in a software as a service agreement, allowing the Iowa DOT to rapidly implement the solution with modest effort. During the 2010 fiscal year, the research team was able to help with the implementation process for the solution. The research team also collected feedback from the Broadway Viaduct project team members before the start of the project and implementation of the solution. For the 2011 fiscal year, the research team collected the post-project surveys from the Broadway Viaduct project members and compared them to the pre-project survey results. The result of the AEC-Sync implementation in the Broadway Viaduct project was a positive one. The project members were satisfied with the performance of AEC-Sync and how it facilitated document management and transparency. In addition, the research team distributed, collected, and analyzed the pre-project surveys for the Iowa Falls Arch Bridge project. During the 2012 fiscal year, the research team analyzed the post-project surveys for the Iowa Falls Arch Bridge project AEC-Sync implementation and found a positive outcome when compared to the pre-project surveys. The second major effort for this project involved the identification and implementation of a WPMS solution for smaller bridge and highway projects. During the 2011 fiscal year, Microsoft SharePoint was selected to be implemented on these smaller highway projects. In this year, workflows for the shop/working drawings for the smaller highway projects specified in Section 1105 of the Iowa DOT Specifications were developed. These workflows will serve as the guide for the development of the SharePoint pages. In order to implement the Microsoft SharePoint pages, the effort of an integrated team proved to be vital because it brought together the expertise required from researchers, programmers, and webpage developers to develop the SharePoint pages.

Electronic Construction Collaboration System—Phase II, SPR RB02-008, 2010

During the first year of research, work was completed to identify Iowa DOT needs for web-based project management system (WPMS) and evaluate how commercially available solutions could meet these needs. Researchers also worked to pilot test custom developed WPMS solutions on Iowa DOT bridge projects. At the end of the first year of research, a Request for Proposals (RFP) was developed and issued by the Iowa DOT for the selection of a commercial WPMS to pilot test on multiple bridge projects. During the second year of research, the responses to the RFP issued during the first year of research were evaluated and a solution was selected. The selected solution, Attolist, was customized, tested, and implemented during the fall of 2009. Beginning in the winter of 2010, the solution was implemented on Iowa DOT projects. Researchers worked to assist in the training, implementation, and performance evaluation of the solution. Work will continue beyond the second year of research to implement Attolist on an additional pilot project. During this time, work will be completed to evaluate the impact of WPMS on Iowa DOT bridge projects.

1102-001 Twelve Mile Lake Final Report

Twelve-Mile Lake is an 800-acre man-made lake in central Union County. The watershed has 13,964 land acres that are used by farmers for row crops and pasture. This lake is used as a water supply source for the City of Creston and the Southern Iowa Rural Water Association. In total approximately 40,000 people are affected by this project. Developed over 20 years ago, the lake and fishery was renovated and restocked and much of the shoreline was riprapped about six years ago. During its history, extensive watershed efforts have been ongoing. However, as farmland for cropland has become more valuable and demand has increased, hilly land once used for dairy farming, grazing, and CRP has been put into row crop production. Consequently, sediment loss has become an increasing issue for farmers, conservation professionals, and the Creston Waterworks Department, which owns the water treatment facility at the lake. In 2011, the Creston Water Board received a WIRB grant to implement a sedimentation structure at the north end of the main channel flowing into the lake. The WIRB funds were used for land acquisition, with the IDNR actually constructing the facility. This report depicts work performed as part of the WIRB project.

1003-001 Williamson Pond Final Report

Williamson Pond is a 26-acre publicly owned lake located about 2 miles east of the town of Williamson, in Lucas County. It has a watershed area of 1,499 acres. It has been managed since 1976 by the Lucas County Conservation Board (while still under state ownership) for fishing, boating, hunting, picnicking and other passive uses. Designated uses are Class AI, primary contact, and Class B (LW) aquatic life. Williamson Pond is on the 2004 EPA 303(d) List of Impaired Waters. A Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for turbidity and nutrients at Williamson Pond was prepared by IDNR in 2005 and approved by EPA in 2006. The TMDL set reduction targets for both suspended sediment and phosphorus. The Williamson Pond Watershed Management Plan has provided the local work group and partners with information to develop and implement strategies to improve and protect water quality. These strategies are based on a three phase approach that will ultimately lead the removal of Williamson Pond from the Impaired Waters List. The goals identified in this proposal (Phase I) will reduce sediment and phosphorus delivery by 453 tons and 589 pounds annually. The Lucas County SWCD has and will continue to provide leadership on the Williamson Pond Project and has secured the partnerships necessary to address water quality problems and hired a part-time project coordinator to manage, implement, and oversee all activities pertaining to this proposal.

1119-008 Lake Icaria Final Report

Lake Icaria is a 660 acre man-made lake in rural Adams County. Lake Icaria is a popular recreational attraction providing ample fishing, boating, and swimming opportunities. Constructed in 1977 for water supply, Lake lcaria continues to provide reliable drinking water to 1,900 households in Adams and Montgomery counties. No stranger to the water quality world, Lake Icaria was the primary lake in the 3Lakes Water Quality Project(1996-2004), an eight year water quality effort which came to be known as one oflowa's first great water quality successes. At time of construction the Lake Icaria watershed was primarily grass. A shift towards maximizing crop production in the 1980's brought about the end of dairy farms and a concern for sediment loss and how that would affect water quality. This change in land use set the stage for the first water quality project at Lake Icaria. Since the conclusion of the 3Lakes Water Quality Project in 2004land use in the watershed has made yet another monumental shift towards crop production. Nearly 2,000 acres ofland that was once in the conservation reserve program is now being planted to a crop. This change in land use has once again brought about serious concerns for the quality of water being provided by Lake Icaria.

09005-002 Silver Creek Watershed Final Report

Silver Creek is a warm water stream resource located in one of the most intensely cropped portions of Clayton County. The stream has been included on Iowa’s 303(d) list of impaired waters since 2002. Aquatic life, which should be present in Silver Creek, isn’t there. According to the Draft Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for Silver Creek, the primary nonpoint pollution sources are soil erosion from agricultural land uses and direct deposition of ammonia by livestock with access to the stream. The Clayton Soil & Water Conservation District has begun efforts to remove Silver Creek from the impaired waters list. The District has promoted stream corridor and sinkhole protection, and the installation of buffer practices along Silver Creek and its tributaries. Conservation practices have been targeted to crop fields to reduce sediment delivery to the stream. A series of news articles, newsletters, and field days have been utilized to increase public understanding of water quality issues. Landowner interest has outweighed available cost share resources. Additional financial support will allow the project to build upon its early successes, to further address the identified impairments, and to respond to a long list of landowners that are interested in conservation work on their farms.

08005-002 Silver Lake Watershed Final Report

Silver Lake is located in an 18,053-acre watershed. The watershed is intensively farmed with almost all of the wetlands being previously drained or degraded over the last 50 years. Silver Lake is listed on the State of Iowa’s impaired water bodies list due to sediment and high nutrient level. Silver Lake is also known be in the bottom 25 percentile of Iowa’s lakes due Secchi disk readings and Chlorophyll a level. Farming in the watershed is the principle concern and cause for many of the problems occurring in Silver Lake currently with 78% of the watershed being intensively farmed. There are two major drainage ditches that have been used to drain the major wetlands and sloughs that, at one time, filtered the water and slowed it down before it reached Silver Lake. With these two major drainage ditches, water is able to reach the lake much faster and unfiltered than it once did historically. The loss of 255 restorable wetland basins to row crop production has caused serious problems in Silver Lake. These wetland basins once slowed and filtered water as it moved through the watershed. With their loss over the last 50 years that traditional drainage no longer occurs. We propose to create a Wetland Reserve Program incentive project to make WRP a more attractive option to landowners within the watershed. The incentive will be based on the amount of sediment delivery reduction to the lake, therefore paying a greater payment for a greater benefit to the lake. The expected result of this project is the restoration of over 250 acres of wetland basins with an associated 650 acres of upland buffers. The benefit for these wetlands and buffers would be reduced sediment, reduced nutrients, and slowed waters to the lake.

1014-008 Walnut Creek Watershed Final Report

In 2004, Walnut Creek was placed on the 303d list of Impaired Waters due to a low biotic index (lack of aquatic life) during IDNR stream sampling events. Sediment originating from agriculture, streambank erosion, and channelization were listed as the most likely sources impacting aquatic life. In an effort to address these concerns, a preliminary study was completed of the multi-county watershed to identify priority areas. A Watershed Development & Planning Assistance Grant was then funded by the IDALS-DSC to conduct a detailed assessment of these prioritized sub-watersheds. The impending assessment of the watershed and the stream corridor revealed ample opportunities to address gully, sheet and rill erosion while addressing in-stream water velocity issues that plagued the riparian corridor. A comprehensive plan was developed comprised of a variety of best management practices to address the identified concerns. In 2009, this plan was submitted to the WIRB Board by the East Pottawattamie and Montgomery SWCDs and $489,455 was awarded to address concerns identified during watershed assessment inquiries. Despite adverse weather conditions, which has hampered conservation construction recently, this project has held fast to pre-project goals due to the fortitude of the project sponsors and the overwhelming participation by the watershed landowners. Unfortunately, state budget shortfalls are bringing project progress to a halt. As specified in the original WIRB funding request, practice funding for Year 3 was to come from the Division of Soil Conservation’s Watershed Protection Fund (WSPF). Due to Iowa’s budgetary restraints, the Walnut Creek WSPF application, which was submitted this spring, was not funded since no new applications in the state were funded. If funded again, this grant will serve as the critical step in continuing what is destined to be a true watershed success story.

1004-002 Rathbun Lake Watershed Final Report

The Rathbun Land and Water Alliance and partners have undertaken a highly effective approach to water quality protection through the Rathbun Lake Special Project. This approach is achieving a significant reduction in the sediment and phosphorus that impair water quality in Rathbun Lake and its tributaries as a result of the targeted application of best management practices (BMPs) for priority land in the watershed. This application proposes to assist landowners to construct five large sediment retention basins that will reduce sediment and phosphorus delivery from priority land in targeted sub-watersheds. The Alliance, with previous WIRB support, demonstrated that construction of these basins at strategically selected sites is one of the most cost effective measures to reduce sediment and phosphorus delivery to Rathbun Lake. Features of this project are: (1) use of geographic information system (GIS) analysis to identify potential basin sites; (2) assistance for landowners to construct 5 basins that will reduce the annual delivery of sediment by 1,500 tons and phosphorus by 5,000 pounds; (3) evaluation of the benefits from basin construction using GIS analysis and water quality monitoring; and (4) watershed outreach activities that encourage landowners to apply BMPs including sediment retention basins to protect water quality.

06015-008 Bear Creek Watershed Final Report

Big Bear Creek is the upper portion of Bear Creek which drains 26,734 acres and ends at the Highway 136 crossing of Bear Creek. Bear Creek flows into the section of the Maquoketa River, which is on the EPA’s 303(d) List of Impaired Waters. Monitoring by the Iowa DNR indicates that Bear Creek is contributing significant amounts of sediment and nutrients to the Maquoketa River. The primary use of land in the Big Bear Creek Watershed is row crop production. A roadside survey completed by Anamosa Field Office Staff indicated that 123,747 tons/yr. of sediment was being lost due to sheet and rill erosion only. The sediment delivered to Big Bear Creek is 24,447 tons/yr. Based on this data, 34,226 lbs. of Phosphorus is reaching the stream per year. With the added amount of sediment and phosphorus delivery through gully and streambank erosion, one can clearly see that the water quality in Bear Creek is severely impaired. The Big Bear Watershed Project will work to reduce the sediment and phosphorus delivered to the stream by 30% through the installation of practices that trap sediment and reduce erosion.

07021-008 Sand Creek Watershed Final Report

Sand Creek is the most significant recreational fishery in Delaware County because of its location to Manchester and Lake Delhi. It is a feeder stream for game fish to the main stem of the Maquoketa River which is limited by the dams at Manchester and Lake Delhi. Sand Creek encompasses 16,045 acres and is dominated by row crop agriculture. It is being impacted by sediment, nutrients and E coli bacteria. Sand Creek will be a good example for habitat impaired watershed. The purpose of this project is to decrease the amount of sediment and nutrients reaching Sand Creek and to increase the habitat in Sand Creek to make it a better spawning and growing area for the fish and the food chain for the fish. The objectives of this project are to reduce sediment delivery by 40%, to improve in-stream habitat on 40% of identified critical areas and implement an information/education program. The project will install 3,800 acres of new no-till planting, 6 water and sediment control basins, 4,000 feet of terraces, 20,000 feet of improved or new waterways, 3,200 feet of streambank/ habitat enhancement, 4,500 feet of livestock exclusion fencing and 6 acres of wetlands.