Water Conservation
Our relationship with water is intimate and essential. Many people appreciate lakes and streams for what they are and what they are capable of doing; others take water for granted.
"Sources of abundance and destruction, life and death, creativity and imagination, rivers, and the fresh flowing waters, are at the heart of human existence. ...Although rivers are only 0.2 percent of all the fresh water on Earth, they are vital carriers of water and nutrients to where they are needed. Rivers drain nearly 75% of the earth’s land surface. They provide habitat, nourishment and means of transport to countless organisms, not just humans."
--From the film "Troubled Waters"
Water Quality Matters To Us All
The recently published book, Water Quality Matters To Us All, provides insite into the attitudes and practices of agencies and stakeholders involved in protecting Iowa's water quality. Based on listening sessions between 2008-2011 with farmers, urban residents, Soil and WAter Conservartion District commissioners, and field staff from Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Iowa Department of Natural Resoures, the book details the institutional, community, and individual impediments towards water conservation and curtailing nonpoint source pollution.
Download a PDF of Water Quality Matters To Us All here, or to request a free copy of the book, email: ilf@iastate.edu.
ILF Water-related Videos
"Out to the Lakes" (43:22) is the latest video in the Culture of Conservation series. The film encourages viewers to think about water quality and their personal relationship with their local lake or water body. It addresses water quality through the perspective of lakes and the water bodies that feed them and offers insight into what Iowans know, or don't know, about water and water quality. This film is an Iowa Motion Picture Association (IMPA) award recipient and can be viewed in segments on YouTube.
The Iowa Learning Farms film "Troubled Waters" (26:21) is also an Iowa Motion Picture Association (IMPA) award recipient and can be viewed in segments on YouTube.
To request a DVD of any of ILF videos, email: ilf@iastate.edu
View other ILF water-related videos:
The Water is Life (8:05) video reminds the audience how important clean water is to the body, the community and the Earth.
We All Have a Place in the Watershed (9:05) defines watersheds and how humans interact within them.
To view other ILF vidoes, see the Videos page on this web site.
Iowa Learning Farms' publication series "It Begins With You."
Iowa Watersheds
Water Quality and Conservation Practices
Supplements:
Northwest Loess Hills
Deep Loess Hills
Des Moines Lobe Till Plain
Western Deep Loess and Drift
Eastern Deep Loess and Drift
Eastern Till Prairies
Northern Mississippi Valley Loess Hills
Southern Thin Loess and Till Plain
Other publications in this series include:
Economics of Residue
The Cost of Soil Erosion
Transition to No-till
Cellulosic Biofuels and Your Farm
Language of Conservation
Strip-tillage Crop Management
A Whole Farm Approach
Urban Conservation Practices
To receive printed copies of these handouts, email Iowa Learning Farms: ilf@iastate.edu
