Project name: Clear Creek Watershed size: 17,299 acres Year began: 2006 Year Complete: Ongoing SWCD Contact: Iowa Phone: (319) 668-2359
Purpose: Improve water quality Soil and Water Conservation District(s): Iowa, Johnson Other partners: Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Natural Resources Conservation Service

Legend has it that Clear Creek got its name from early settlers for its pristine waters.

Over time, the prairies and wetlands those settlers saw disappeared. The stream was dredged and straightened, and as livestock and row crops increased, the stream’s waters became increasingly cloudy from soil runoff and polluted further with nutrients and bacteria.

The Iowa and Johnson County Soil and Water Conservation Districts––with assistance from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship––began the Clear Creek Watershed Project in 2006.

The project is focusing on Deer Creek and North Branch subwatersheds. Water from these tributaries empties into Clear Creek, a stream on the state of Iowa’s impaired waters list.

In just one rainfall event–– a 6-inch rain in 2004–– about 240,000 tons of sediment washed into Clear Creek. That’s the equivalent of dumping 16,000 dump trucks of soil into the creek, in just one day!

The project’s primary goal is to reduce sediment delivery to the creek by 30 percent. A second objective is to reduce E. coli levels to meet state standards.

Among the practices installed by landowners are grade stabilization structures, water and sediment control basins, grassed waterways, contour buffer strips and filter strips.

Some landowners are also using no-till farming and fencing livestock away from the streams.

One in a series of summaries of watershed projects in Iowa carried out by local conservation districts, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Division of Soil Conservation, and other partners.

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