Middle Cedar
Partnership Project
September 2015
Steve Hershner, Utilities Director
Barb Wagner, Utilities Water Quality Specialist
Mike Kuntz, Utilities Environmental Manager
Tariq Baloch, Water Utility Plant Manager
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Middle Cedar Partnership Project (MCPP)
MCPP Partners
1. Benton/Tama Counties and Miller Creek Watershed
Quality Initiative projects
2. Benton Soil and Water Conservation District
(BSWCD)
3. Tama Soil and Water Conservation District (TSWCD)
4. Black Hawk Soil and Water Conservation District
(BHSWCD)
5. Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
6. DuPont Pioneer (DP)
7. Sand County Foundation (SCF)
8. The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
9. Iowa Farm Bureau (IFB)
10.Iowa Soybean Association (ISA)
11.Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA)
12.Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA)
13.Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land
Stewardship (IDALS)
14.Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR)
15.Iowa State University Extension Service (ISUES)
16.City of Cedar Rapids
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Reasons for Collaboration / Engagement upstream
I.
Flooding
a. City wide
b. Industrial
c. Water plant
II. Nitrates
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Food Processing & Biotech are key industries for us
100,000+ bu/day of soybeans & 1,000,000 bu/day of corn are
processed or used everyday in C.R.
We need our industries to be successful and all of our water
consumers to be safe
Cedar River quality is important to us because it is a
significant source of supply to our alluvial well system
Vitally connected to our upstream watershed in many ways:
economic resource, source water, and flood impacts
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June 13, 2008
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Flood Impact
N
10 square miles
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Industrial Impact
ADM
ADM Drymill
Water
BioSpringer
Cargill
Cedar River
Paper
Water
Sunopta
Quaker Oats
WPCF
Penford
Genencor
JRS Pharma
Cargill
Red Star
Sunopta
Penford
General
MillsADM/Drymill
Red Star
BioSpringer
Genencor
Cedar River Paper
JRS Pharma
Quaker Oats
General Mills
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Industrial Impact
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Industrial Impact
PENFORD
Recommended
Plan 4C
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Industrial Impact
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Water Impact
Water Infrastructure in Cedar Rapids
-Two treatment plants, 60 MGD (million gallons per day) of
production capacity
-50 wells (5 collector, 45 vertical), 70+ MGD capacity
-Approximately 670 miles of water main
-10 year treatment facilities capital plan = $132M, distribution
system = $ 72M, total 10-year CIP = $204M
-C.R. does not have nitrate removal treatment options in place,
and it is not currently part of the 10-year CIP
2016 Nitrate Treatment, Source Water Study ~$100k, need to
establish budget estimates for treatment
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Water Impact
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Water Impact
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Water Impact
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Nitrate Monitoring
•
•
•
Raw water highly
influenced by river
water quality
Public notification
at 10 mg/L
Hach Nitratax
Why are nitrates a key factor for Cedar Rapids and many
other Public Water Supplies?
-EPA has established a limit of 10 mg/l for nitrates, if
exceeded a certain number of times you need to notify your
customers immediately
-Nitrates are a particular area of concern for young infants
and for individuals with suppressed immune systems
-Food processing industries, hospitals, nursing homes, and
other care facilities (kidney dialysis) are concerned about
drinking water safety if 10 mg/l nitrate limit is ever exceeded
-Upstream Cedar River nitrate trend has been increasing
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Upstream Collaboration
Goal: Establish connections and agreements with individual
producers to enhance adoption of a variety of practices that
will improve soil health, improve bankside and downstream
water quality, potentially limit peak downstream flows, and
enhance long-term economic viability of producers,
recognizing the relationship to Cedar Rapids Industries
How (1st step): Middle Cedar Partnership Project (MCPP) a
Regional Conservation Partnership Project awarded by the
USDA-NRCS
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Middle Cedar Partnership Project (MCPP)
MCPP Overview
Working Together
Improve Soil Health
Improve Water Quality
Reduce Water Quantity
Expanding on a Good Thing
Miller Creek WQI
Benton/Tama Nutrient Reduction
Demonstration Project
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The City of Cedar Rapids is the lead partner and will be working
with 15 other partners on five HUC 12 watersheds on the Cedar
River between Vinton and Waterloo
Iowa Soybean Association is a key partner on MCPP, they had
already established a WQI project in this area that we were able
to significantly expand the outreach, scope, and longevity of
practice adoption to an additional 13,000+ acres in these
watersheds
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The focus area of the Middle Cedar Partnership Project is five
HUC 12 watersheds contained within the larger Middle Cedar
HUC 8 watershed located in east central Iowa.
HUC 12 Name
HUC 12 ID
HUC 12 Size
Rock Creek-Cedar River
Pratt Creek
Wolf Creek
Miller Creek
Headwaters Miller Creek
7080205100
70802051101
70802050809
70802050905
70802050904
124,365 acres
31,696 acres
36,220 acres
19,324 acres
23,137 acres
234,742 total acres
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Benton/Tama Counties and Miller Creek Watershed Quality Initiative projects
Benton Soil and Water Conservation District (BSWCD)
Tama Soil and Water Conservation District (TSWCD)
Black Hawk Soil and Water Conservation District (BHSWCD)
Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
DuPont Pioneer (DP)
Sand County Foundation (SCF)
The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
Iowa Farm Bureau (IFB)
Iowa Soybean Association (ISA)
Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA)
Iowa Corn Growers Association (ICGA)
Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS)
Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR)
Iowa State University Extension Service (ISUES)
City of Cedar Rapids
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16 MCPP partners are contributing $2.3M in technical and
financial assistance
NRCS through RCPP is contributing an additional $2.0M of
primarily financial and some technical assistance
Total of $4.3M will be available over the next five years to the
Middle Cedar Partnership Project
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MCPP Overview
Objective 1:
Develop watershed plans to include monitoring and
evaluation that will optimize effective Best
Management Practice (BMP) placement
Objective 2:
Implement BMPs through financial and technical
assistance to reduce nitrate loads and peak flow
runoff to the Cedar River.
Objective 3:
Conduct outreach activities with landowners and
producers in the five HUC 12 watersheds.
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BMP examples
Practices on the land
Controlled Drainage
Woodchip Bioreactors
Wetlands
Nitrogen Management
lower application rate of N per acre
move application time from Fall to SPRING
Cover Crops
turnips, winter wheat, other crops
Crop Rotations
Controlled Drainage Structure/ Wetland
Field Days
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MCPP Overview
Evaluating Results:
•
Track adoption rates and the locations of best management
practices to understand which practice type and installation
location are best aligned with watershed plans and providing
the maximum benefits to soil health, water quality, and
water quantity
•
Water quality models and tools to estimate the benefits
resulting from best management practice implementation.
•
Water quality monitoring to quantify best management
practice results. Monitoring will be an important component
of the project. Currently, both water quality initiative
projects are conducting monitoring efforts including tile
outlet monitoring
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Middle Cedar Partnership Project (MCPP)
MCPP Overview
Recent activity
• Stream assessment is in progress. Approximately 50% of stream
miles have been visually inspected and points of concern/interest
have been documented
•
Two farmer advisory group meetings have been held. Input has
been gathered from farmers concerning watershed goals,
practices, timelines, etc. All information gathered will be used to
develop the watershed plans
•
Developed GIS database of land use, elevation, soils and other
watershed characteristics
•
Coordinator hired (Jason Gomes). Awaiting finalizing of contract
between CR and ISA
•
Review of conservation plan requirements has been conducted
however no plans have been initiated to date, possibly two going
forward from WQI
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What does future success look like?
-Construction of nitrate treatment in Cedar Rapids is
unnecessary for our Utilities Dept. – Water Division
-With their adoption of practices in the MCPP project area,
producers experience improved soil health leading to an
improved bottom-line
-Other producers independently adopt practices that work for
their operations because it makes financial sense and it’s the
right thing to do
-Water quality improvements are demonstrated in each of
these watersheds and downstream
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Citizens of Cedar Rapids involvement in
Nutrient reduction goals
Wastewater Infrastructure in Cedar Rapids
-One treatment plant
-Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy (Point Source – Major)
-Projected cost for nutrient treatment (Nitrogen and
Phosphorus) ~$20M (current estimate, likely $25-30M by start
of construction)
-NPDES Permit Renewal January 2016 (1st Step – Study)
-Nutrient Treatment Construction expected to begin in 2020
and be completed by 2022-2023
-Rate increases projected for all customer classes
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Discussion / Comments?
Middle Cedar
Partnership Project
July 22, 2015
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