One Lot at a Time

By Bobbi Holm,
UNL Southeast Research and Extension Center

UNL Extension’s Clean Lakes program helps people in metro lake watersheds formulate watershed management plans to improve and maintain the health of their lakes. Urban runoff can greatly affect water quality in ponds and lakes. Pictured is Carter Lake, near Omaha (photo: Bobbi Holm).

Bobbi Holm

We count on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to protect us from industrial polluters and those who intentionally dump harmful substances into our water.  But who protects us from ourselves?

EPA says nonpoint source pollution is currently the leading cause of water quality degradation, and that’s us. Nonpoint source pollution (NPS) can’t be traced to a specific source.  It’s just not as easy as spotting a pipe spewing toxic waste into a river.

NPS comes from lawns, driveways, roads, farms, parking lots, basically anything that produces runoff water. It’s a particular problem in urban areas because of all the surfaces that don’t absorb water and so produce runoff.

Stormwater runoff isn’t only water, there’s stuff in that water, some of it benign and some of it toxic.  Stuff like nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers and organic waste; sediment from erosion; pathogenic bacteria; metals from roofs, automobiles, and businesses; and oil, grease, and detergents.

All of these things end up in our rivers and lakes because most of our runoff isn’t treated. Just the volume and velocity of stormwater that a modern urban community produces is, in itself, a detriment to the receiving streams.  It’s a rush and gush thing.

Water that runs off our hard-surfaced lives hits streams in a huge gush and at such a rush that the stream functions as little more than a gutter.  And in reality, engineering processes over the last century have effectively turned many of our urban streams into channelized, straightened pipelines.

Add thermal pollution to the mix, because runoff is usually at a higher temperature than the water in the stream, and the streams don’t have much of a chance.

We could always recycle, never litter, and be model green commuters, but we would most likely still contribute to the problem.

We are, therefore we pollute (my apologies to Descartes.)

So who advocates for water?  Who educates the average citizen on ways to reduce their impact on our water resources?

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension is one of many groups that take on this task.  Others include Nebraska’s 23 Natural Resources Districts, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, state agencies such as the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality, Nebraska Department of Natural Resources, Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, and cities, counties, and private and non-profit advocacy groups (let’s credit EPA with being the flint that ignited many of these programs through the Clean Water Act and its many amendments.)

In Douglas and Sarpy Counties, the Extension Clean Lakes program is a grant- funded effort with the objective of educating people to reduce NPS pollution in their own neighborhood.

Clean Lakes has helped citizens in metro lake watersheds formulate watershed management plans to improve and maintain the health of their lakes.  Through this process, UNL Extension helped guide lake councils in voicing concerns for their lakes and stating objectives that needed to be met in order to achieve their goals for water quality.

As management plans were produced, professionals from many water quality-related fields advised council members.  These experts provided invaluable assistance with scientific analysis and grant writing. 

Management plans have resulted in community education efforts, watershed modifications and efforts to protect water quality by regulating future watershed development.

After the plans are in place, Extension continues to offer support and educational assistance to the lake councils and watershed residents.

An ongoing goal of the Clean Lakes program is to partner with other Omaha metro area agencies in sponsoring programming for land developers and builders.  To this end, Extension co-sponsors an annual educational seminar.  “Building for the Future, Sediment and Erosion Control Seminar VII” will be held in February.  Last year’s seminar attracted about 300 professionals in the building and development industry. 

Topics vary annually and the goal is to help these professionals make their best effort to protect water quality.  Because EPA water quality regulations have strict requirements for new and re-development projects, the seminar helps developers avoid fines and work slowdowns.

Last fall, Extension also co-sponsored a “Post Construction Stormwater Management Workshop.”  This first such workshop focused on Omaha’s new stormwater ordinance and what builders and engineers would need to do to comply with it.

Whether from the perspective of the engineer who designs a land development project or the eventual lot owner who is responsible for maintenance, the UNL Douglas/Sarpy Extension Clean Lakes program aims to help people keep their water resources clean.

Some examples of good water stewardship for homeowners are properly disposing of pet waste, sweeping fertilizers and pesticides off hard surfaces, keeping leaves out of gutters, being careful with automobile maintenance and having downspouts empty onto green space not concrete.

Extension helps you “Know How, Know Now” to do your part to protect water quality.  You can make a real difference by starting one lot at a time.