FACETS of Freshwater

FACETS of Freshwater
WHAT CAN I DO?
Tips to have a healthy, enviable, green lawn WHILE
conserving water...
Summer yard tips:
• If you are building a new home or laying
new sod, be sure there is at least 6 inches
of topsoil beneath the sod.
• Test your soil and consider adding compost
as organic material. It will dramatically
increase the absorption of water.
• Follow the Environmental Protection
Agency’s (EPA) WaterSense guidelines
for landscaping: Limit the amount of turf
you plant, don’t plant grass on steep
slopes, and don’t install ornamental water
features.
• Don’t over-water. Most lawns need only 1
inch of water each week, either from rain
or from irrigation. If you don’t have a rain
gauge, set out a small tuna can. If it fills
up in a week from rain, you don’t need to
• Step on your grass. If it springs back, it doesn’t
need watering.
• Water early in the morning to prevent
evaporation. The middle of the day is when the
most water is lost to evaporation.
• Microirrigation or drip systems, not sprinklers,
• When hiring an irrigation contractor,
look for one that is certified. The
EPA offers a state-by-state list of
WaterSense Irrigation Partners at
www.epa.gov/watersense/outdoor/
irrigation_professionals.html
should be used on planting beds and strips of
For more information, go to:
grass that are less than 8 feet wide.
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Cut grass no shorter than 2 inches. It will
promote deeper roots that require less water.
• Install a weather-sensing controller or soilmoisture sensor as part of your automated
sprinkling system. They will reduce over-
WaterSense Program
www.epa.gov/watersense
• University of Minnesota Sustainable
Lawncare Information Series
www.sustland.umn.edu/maint/maint.htm
By Don Specht
watering.
• Aerate your lawn, as needed.
MAY 2013
Weather Facts and Photo from MN Weatherguide Environment Calendar
Monthly Normals: Temp. Max: 69.4 F Min: 48.9 F Precip: 3.36 inches
• If you use a hose for watering grass or shrubs,
be sure it has a shut-off nozzle.
water.
UPC OMIN G E V E N T S
June 6
Items of Interest
Links to original reports on water availability, water pollution and water policy are archived on the
Reports and Research page of the Freshwater web site at freshwater.org/original-sources/.
There is some intriguing research there by agencies and organizations as diverse as the U.S.
Geological Survey, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Pew Environment
Group. You can look up a report that puts Minnesota water use into a national perspective, and you
can read about Chesapeake Bay pollution caused by giant chicken farms.
Browse through the web page. You will find something that interests you.
Join Our Mailing List
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4 | FACETS OF FRESHWATER
About the Freshwater
Society
The mission of the Freshwater Society is
to promote the conservation, protection and
restoration of all freshwater resources.
Since 1968 – two years before the first
Earth Day – the Freshwater Society has
been a leading public nonprofit organization
dedicated to conserving, restoring, and
protecting freshwater resources and their
surrounding watersheds.
If you would
like to support the
important work
of the Freshwater
Society, please
consider becoming
a Member.
www.freshwater.org
Moos Speaker Series presents
Don Rosenberry
Q&A
MASTER WATER STEWARD
Community Leadership for Clean Water
Water that runs across urban land and into storm sewer systems is one of the biggest
June 30
threats to the health of lakes and rivers. Preventing pollution is always less expensive and
Minnehaha Creek CLeanup
more effective than cleaning it up, and every property owner in the state of Minnesota can play
a part in reducing runoff. To tackle the challenge of urban runoff, the Freshwater Society and
the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, with funding provided by the Clean Water Fund, have
created the new Master Water
Stewards program.
In this issue
From the Desk of Pat Sweeney . . . . . . . . . . . 2
A Sneak Peak at the 2014 Calendar . . . . . . . . 2
The Master Water Stewards
program will certify and support
community leaders as they install
pollution prevention projects that
teach community members about
Rosenberry Lecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
runoff, reduce pollutants, and allow
What Can I Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
more water to soak into the ground.
Items of Interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Now in its first year, the program
About the Freshwater Society . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
has enrolled 24 community
Continues on page 3
Master Water Stewards Tour the Watershed
From the desk of Pat Sweeney
Freshwater Society Research and Communications Director
The Freshwater Society is a non-profit
organization dedicated to educating and
inspiring people to value, conserve and
protect water resources.
Board of Directors
Tom Skramstad, Chair
Stuart E. Grubb, Vice Chair
Barbara Luikens, MD, Secretary
Pat Sweeney
Rick Bateson, Treasurer
Todd Bolin
Blyth Berg Brookman
volunteers who are working toward certification as Master Water Stewards. Sheila Goeken was
Freshwater has a new quiz – about water, water use and water
pollution – on our web site.
one of the first volunteers to show up at an informational meeting. We asked Sheila to tell us
It will test your knowledge about how much mercury falls on
Minnesota every year, why you really need to worry about silver
carp and the contaminants that sometimes afflict private wells.
Begin by sharing a story about water that is important to your life.
And, lest you think there is not much fun in a quiz like that, there
also is a question about an old Hamm’s beer jingle. And there's an
essay question that involves food coloring and water conservation.
The quiz owes a lot to the U.S. Geological Survey’s Water Science School , which we also borrow
heavily from in our web site’s updated Kids’ Page.
Please take the quiz and have some fun while you learn about water. If you are moved to
Robert Elde, PhD, Emeritus Director
suggest a question for the quiz, go to our Facebook page and post it. We will send a 2014
Minnesota Weatherguide Environment Calendar to whoever suggests the best new question by
the end of June.
JoEllen L. Hurr, Emeritus Director
David Knoblauch
Jim Manolis, PhD
Lili Tod McMillan
Darby Nelson, PhD
Corrine Ricard
Lisa Whalen
Staff
Gene Merriam, President
(continued from page 1)
Sometimes a little knowledge can be a fun thing.
Richard S. Caldecott, PhD, Emeritus Director
Richard G. Gray, Sr., D.Sc.
Q&A with a Master Water Steward
Sincerely,
about her interest in becoming a Master Water Steward.
I grew up in South Dakota near the Missouri River. In my youth, I swam near Gavin’s Point Dam,
Yankton, SD and fished the James River near Olivet, SD.
What attracted you to the Master Water Stewards program?
Don’t miss our June 6 lecture by Don
Rosenberry, a U.S. Geological Survey
I am interested in photographing Minnehaha Creek, so this program offered me an opportunity to
hydrologist who will speak on the
learn about the creek in more depth.
interactions between groundwater and
What were you doing in your daily life to conserve or protect water resources prior to
surface waters.
For a teaser on what he will have to
entering the Master Water Steward program?
say, check out this mini-interview with
I set up a rain barrel and a composting site at my home a couple of years ago.
Rosenberry.
The lecture is sponsored by the
What kind of impact do you hope to make as a Water Steward?
Freshwater Society and the University of
After only a few weeks into the program, I feel that I have learned so much about the Minnehaha
Minnesota College of Biological Sciences.
Creek Watershed District. I hope to share this information with others and will continue to look for
Patrick Sweeney
Rosenberry
Lecture
ways to conserve our water resources, both personally and through community projects.
Rosenberry, who was part of the
research team that studied the big decline
in White Bear Lake’s water level, will speak
A Sneak Peak…
How do you think people in your neighborhood will respond to working with a Water
at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 6, in the theater
Steward?
of the Student Centeron the University of
Here’s a preview of the 2014 Minnesota Weatherguide Environment Calendar. This amazing cover
photo was taken by David Brislance.
2014 Weatherguides will be available July 15th. Get yours at: freshwater.org.
I think people will participate more as they learn about their own impact on water quality and our
Joan Nephew, Executive Director
Scott Branch, Operations Assistant
water resources.
Minnesota’s St. Paul Campus.
His talk is titled “Not Just for Scientists
Anymore: Why the Public Should
What is one thing you have you learned in the classes you have taken so far that has
Care About the Connections Between
surprised you?
Groundwater and Lakes, Streams and
Wetlands.”
Deirdre Coleman, Program Coordinator
There is a large water receptacle underneath the warning track at the new Twins stadium. It is
Alex Gehrig, Program Manager
part of a water recycling system that reduces the need for municipal water at Target Field by over
of Minnesota experts who will join him
50 percent.
in taking questions from the audience.
Peggy Knapp, Director of Programs
Diane Lynch, Development Director/Sr. Mgr.
Chris Prok, Operations Manager
Jeanne Prok, Program Manager
Minnesota Weatherguide
environMent Calendar
TM
Patrick Sweeney, Comm./Research Director
Facets of Freshwater is published by
the Freshwater Society.
What should other people know about the program?
Visit the Freshwater Society web site
at www.freshwater.org.
3 2 | FACETS OF FRESHWATER
the Minnesota Department of Natural
Resources, Andrew Streitz from the
our water resources and how runoff from the land around our lakes
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
and rivers affects water quality. The information is applicable not just to
and Robert Tipping from the Minnesota
Minnehaha Creek, but to any watershed area.
Geological Survey.
Learn more about the lecture, and register
to attend. If you cannot attend in person,
for the 2014 class of Stewards will be accepted beginning
watch the lecture in live streaming video as
in November of this year. To apply, you must live within the
Rosenberry speaks at freshwater.org.
Minnehaha Creek Watershed District. To learn more contact:
2014
Panelists will be: Jeanette Leete from
This is an excellent program, taught by local experts, for learning about
Interested in becoming a Master Water Steward? Applications
For permission to reprint, contact us at:
2500 Shadywood Road, Excelsior, MN
55331, 952-471-9773 or at freshwater@
freshwater.org.
Rosenberry will appear with a panel
freshwater@freshwater.org
Learn more about Master Water Stewards at freshwater.org
View video of previous speakers in
the lecture series, which honors the
late Malcolm Moos, a former university
president.
FACETS OF FRESHWATER | 3