Project AWARE 2005 Little Sioux River

Summary of Project AWARE 2005, a river cleanup held on the Little Sioux River.

Project AWARE 2006 Iowa River

Summary of Project AWARE 2006, a volunteer river cleanup on the Iowa River.

Project AWARE 2009 Cedar River

Summary of Project AWARE, a volunteer river cleanup on the Cedar River.

Project AWARE 2010 Nishnabotna River

Summary of Project AWARE in 2010 on the Nishnabotna River.

Project AWARE 2011 Turkey River

Summary of Project AWARE, a volunteer river cleanup, which was held on the Turkey River in 2011.

Project AWARE 2012 Iowa River

Summary of Project AWARE, volunteer river cleanup, which was held on the Iowa River in 2012.

Project AWARE 2013 Des Moines River

Summary of Project AWARE, volunteer river cleanup, held in 2013 on the Des Moines River.

Project AWARE 2014 Big Sioux River

Summary of Project AWARE on the Big Sioux River in 2014. Project AWARE is a volunteer river cleanup event.

06031-014 City of Carpenter Sewage Treatment System Project Final Report

The Mitchell County Soil and Water Conservation District is applying on behalf of the incorporated community of Carpenter to construct a wastewater collection and treatment system to assist in the environmental cleanup and protection of Deer Creek. IDNR water monitoring of the community tile line has shown consistently elevated levels of fecal coliform bacteria indicating the presence of untreated sewage water. These are obvious health threats to the downstream users and wildlife in Deer Creek and the Cedar River. A new sewer system for the community of Carpenter will eliminate illegal discharges into the creed and be the first step in the overall protection of the stream.

06012-006 Lime Creek NPS Project Final Report

Lime Creek is a sub-watershed of the Cedar River above; approximately 25 miles from Cedar Rapids. The lower half of the stream is on the Iowa 2004 Section 303(d) impaired waters list. Monitoring by the Cedar River Watershed Monitoring Coalition documents that Lime Creek delivers above average amounts of nitrate+ nitrite-N, ammonia-Nand total phosphorus (above the 901 percentile) compared to other Cedar River sub-watersheds. The Cedar Rapids water utility is concerned about increasing delivery of nitrate+nitrate to the Cedar River, which provides drinking water for about 125,000 people in the area. A group of local citizens has formed the Lime Creek watershed council with the goal of reducing pollutant delivery to the creek and promoting sustainable, watershed-wide action by producers, urban and rural residents for improved environmental management. The council has established a performance-based program that rewards cooperators for improvement in research-based test and index scores which directly measure environmental impact of BMPs. The Iowa Com Growers Association is funding the performance rewards. The Watershed Coalition is contributing in-kind monitoring. Council and performance cooperators participate primarily with commitment of their own resources. WIRB funds will be used to increase program cooperators and for staff support. In addition to improvement of water quality in Lime Creek, the project will establish baseline values for arket-based a pro ch to valuing pollutant reduction by intensive livestock operations in eastern Iowa.

07008-002 Yellow River Watershed Improvement Project Final Report

Two sections of the Yellow River have been named to the State of Iowa’s 303d list of impaired waters. The listing reflects streams with pollution problems linked to habitat alterations, in addition to those with potential disease causing bacteria, viruses and parasites. This fact, combined with local knowledge of water quality problems, shows the need for land treatment practices and habitat improvement measures. This project would target the Yellow River watershed, which totals approximately 49,800 acres. Areas that drain directly into the Yellow River mainstream will be targeted. Individually, these areas are too small to be considered sub-watersheds. This project will assess the drainage areas for active gullies and prioritize grade stabilization structures based upon severity and impact on the fishery. Funding would be utilized to target high priority grade stabilization structure sites and provide cost-share for those projects. A prerequisite for cost-share allocation is 75% of the land contributing to the drainage area must have some form of treatment in place. The Allamakee SWCD has received an EPA Region 7 Grant toward grade stabilization structures in the same area. Landowners have indicated that 75% cost-share is necessary to implement practices. To meet this request, the EPA funding would be used at a 15% cost-share rate if matched with 60% cost-share from WIRB funding. If matched with Federal EQIP funds, 25% of funds obtained from WIRB would be used. If other funds were depleted, WIRB funds would be utilized for the entire 75% cost-share.

05011-055 Yellow River Watershed Improvement Project Final Report

An overall effort has been initiated to improve the quality of the Yellow River in Northeast Iowa by reducing the amount of sediment and bacteria entering the stream. Funding for this project will be utilized to improve stream quality to the level of fully supporting game fish such as brown, rainbow and brook trout, walleye, northern pike and smallmouth bass. The Yellow River has the potential to be one of the top trout streams, not only in Iowa, but in the entire Upper Midwest. This project will greatly enhance recreational activities such as fishing, canoeing and inner tubing and will greatly increase tourism dollars to the state. The project will specifically address two sources of impairment: stream bank erosion and coliform bacteria from both livestock and inadequate human septic systems.

Project AWARE 2015 Wapsipinicon River

Summary of Project AWARE on the Wapsipinicon River in 2015.Project AWARE is a volunteer river cleanup event.

Water Quality Monitoring Report - 2005-2009 Monitoring of Prairie Pothole Wetlands

Prior to European settlement, wetland basins covered 4 to 6 million acres, or approximately 11% of Iowa's surface area. Wetlands were part of every watershed in the state, but nearly 95% of them have been drained for agriculture. As Iowa was settled wetlands were drained and developed, resulting in the loss of wildlife habitat, damage to water quality, rapid topsoil erosion, and increased incidents and severity of flooding. The condition of Iowa’s remaining wetlands is poorly known. The goal of this project was to assess the ecological condition of prairie pothole wetlands in a defined region of north-central Iowa. This project has worked to develop and establish our wetland sampling methods, while providing baseline data regarding the basic chemical, physical, and biological status of Iowa’s permanent and semi-permanent wetland resources. The baseline data obtained from our monitoring methods is mainly in the form of numerical values derived from the lab analyses of our samples. This data will be used to begin building a database to interpret ecological condition changes in Iowa’s wetlands as the sampling regime and assessment methodology are repeated over time.

Benchmarking project of the Department of Electrical Engineering of Lappeenranta University of Technology

Lappeenrannan teknillisen korkeakoulun sähkötekniikan osasto muutti 1.8.2005 sähkötekniikan tutkinnon kaksiportaiseksi ja vastaamaan näin Bologna-prosessia ja Suomen yliopistolainsäädäntöä. Tutkinnonuudistuksen myötä osasto haluaa varmistaa sähkötekniikan tutkintojen laadun ja vertailtavuuden sekä parantaa opiskelijoidensekä henkilökunnan liikkuvuutta. Tutkintojen laatu ja vertailtavuus osoitetaan sähkötekniikan osaston benchmark-projektilla, jossa kerätään tietoja maisteri- ja tohtorintutkintoa tarjoavista eurooppalaisista yliopistoista. Diplomityö käsittää BM-projektin kolmannen vaiheen suunnittelun ja toteutuksen sisältäen teoriaa benchmark-projekteille tyypillisistä toimintatavoista. Hyväksi havaitut menetelmiä, kuten kyselyt ja matriisit, on tässä työssä otettu soveltuvin osin sähkötekniikan osaston BM-projektin työkaluiksi. Diplomityössä analysoidaan työkalujen avulla BM-kumppaneilta kerättyjä tietoja sekä esitetään ratkaisuja, miten sähkötekniikan osastolla voidaan jatkaa parhaiden toimintatapojen löytämistä.