"SNAPSHOT" OF THE IOWA WATERSHED"What If Lightning Lasted, Not For An Instant But Forever, Each Crackling Bolt Joining The Thousands, The Millions Already Pulsating From Earth To Heaven?
What If The Mountains, Like Massive Molars Were Ripped Up Roots And All And Deposited Beneath the Ocean's Pillow?
What If the Moon, Like Anyone's Heart Began A Bright Red Pumping, Deluging All Land to the Height of Every Horse's Bridal?….
"…Enough! I've Had Enough of this Pestilent Race, This Great Polluter To Whom Nothing's Sacred. So, Let Lightening Live.
Let The Mountains Roll. Let The Blood-Moon Spill its Precious Measure.
Let A Great Book Fall Open, The Pages Blank, Let Us Write A New Beginning."
This poem called "After Words" from "After Lightning Before Thunder/A Collection of Poems" by Tracy Alan White (1995) and published by the author makes a strong statement about our impact on the Earth. Do we deserve to continue dwelling upon this most splendid of all the planets? Let's do a test….This past week about 50 concerned citizens roamed the Scott County countryside testing the waters….literally.
With pH strips in tow along with kits that determine the concentrations of CHLORIDE, DISSOLVED OXYGEN, NITRATE-NITROGEN & NITRITE-NITROGEN, PHOSPATE, TRANSPARENCY, and TEMPERATURE, I set out with two new acquaintances, Cathy and David. We traveled from a very shaded stream by Le Claire to Bud Creek near Princeton that empties into the MISSISSIPPI RIVER and out Lost Grove Road towards three other destinations.
It was a sunny, slightly breezy day. This "SNAPSHOT" sampling, as it is called, was the seventh of a bi-annual gathering of information on the water quality in our area's watershed. Partners of Scott County Watershed that is affiliated with the Scott County Soil & Water Conservation District spearheads the community project. It is a great day to bring your family or school groups along to see just how many waterways flow through the area and how humans impact our natural resources.
The NITRATES are of particular importance because runoff from farming fertilizers, feedlots or business waste can raise the naturally occurring compound to unhealthy levels. An article in the April 9th addition of the Des Moines Register tells of a new system to remove NITRATES from river water. If successful, it could be used elsewhere. Many areas across IOWA have high levels of NITRATES, especially in the spring when use of farm field fertilizers is up….Back to the collecting…
For those who had nets, macroinvertebrates ranging from crawling water beetles, snails, sowbugs or crawdads could be looked for and brought back. It was a great opportunity to meet new people and to be reminded just how beautiful IOWA is once you get out of that vehicle and how valuable the streams and waterways are. To check out the results, which should be available in the next several weeks, you can go to www.Partners-PSCW.com or you can contact Sara Klindt at 563-391-1403 ext.3.
For information on the newspaper article, go to www.desmoinesregister.com and also check out the site www.iowater.net for sampling information from your county.
As always CPR: CONSERVE/PARTICIPATE/RECYCLE
Bush Sinks to New Lows
