The pollution in Iowa's water didn't happen overnight, and improving our water for today's Iowans and future generations is an ongoing process that takes the active involvement of all Iowans. Clean watersheds and clean water start with you, and the DNR is here to help. With watershed improvement projects and other assistance, the DNR can work with you to improve our water together.

Where does pollution come from?
Often, people think of pollution as being dumped directly from a pipe into a stream. This is called "point" source pollution. While this can be a problem, most water quality problems in Iowa's lakes and streams are caused by "nonpoint" source pollution.

Nonpoint source pollution, especially sediment, nutrients and bacteria, washes into Iowa's streams and lakes from farm fields, forested lands and urban areas. Those pollutants come from an area called a "watershed," which is an area of land that drains into a lake or stream. To truly improve Iowa's water quality, we need to clean up watersheds to keep sediment, nutrients and bacteria from washing into streams and lakes.

What's being done to improve water quality?
The DNR is working with Iowans across the state to clean up our valuable lakes and streams. The DNR currently funds and works with more than 50 organized watershed projects, and that's not counting all the projects already completed and projects on the horizon.

Watershed projects help Iowans in both urban and rural areas to keep pollutants from reaching our water in the first place, so we have clean water for drinking, swimming, fishing, boating and more.

Learn more about:

• How you can help
• How a watershed works
• Watershed improvement success stories
• Find a local watershed project
• Nonpoint source pollution
• Water quality improvement plans

What's a watershed?

A watershed is the area of land that drains into a lake or stream.

Water traveling over the surface or through groundwater may pick up contaminants like sediment, chemicals and waste and deposit them in a body of water.

Soil and Water Conservation Week 2007

Help the DNR assess our streams: Take the survey