Connected to water The CRWD explores Austin’s rich history of water
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Reconnecting to our waterways By Tim Ruzek Cedar River Watershed District, Local co-leader of “We Are Water MN”
In the “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” Mower County has none — at least, no “natural” lakes. We are among the four counties out of 87 in Minnesota officially without a natural lake, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. In the Cedar River Watershed, our “lakes” are reservoirs created by dams on the Cedar River and Dobbins Creek — with significant digging and dredging also involved to make the backwater more like a lake. Despite this, the Cedar River Watershed and Austin area have a rich history connected to water. In fact, none of us would be here if not for the Cedar River, which was known as the Red Cedar River for Austin’s first century. Early settlers came to present-day Austin for the access to water. Back then, the Cedar River — a Minnesota state water trail since 201 — flowed nicely with some whitewater through today’s downtown dam area, and settlers harnessed the local water power for the first industries of grain and saw mills. Platted in the 1850s, one of Austin’s main roads was named Water Street (present-day 4th Ave NE) and was Austin’s first crossing over the Cedar River at the downtown dam. It went past the Water Works building that pumped from wells to first supply water to the city. Hormel Foods would not be a Fortune 500 company today without the Cedar River. In the company’s first four decades operating
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along the shoreline of the Cedar River (southeast corner of Austin Mill Pond), founder George A. Hormel relied on the backwater created by the downtown dam for ice harvesting. Harvesting ice was vital for the growing meat processor back then until Hormel was able in the 1930s to utilize new refrigeration technology. Countless stories abound from the past of Austin-area residents flocking to the Cedar River and other local swimming holes to cool off or even bathe. For decades, locals also loved skating on the frozen waters. There also are many stories related to water-quality challenges back in those days and residents using the river and Mill Pond area as a dumping ground. The community also made decisions that vastly changed the river, especially at Mill Pond, and developed areas that should have been left natural. Flooding is a major part of the Cedar River Watershed’s story. Five of the seven worst-known floods here have happened in the past 20 years yet the area has a long history of major floods, dating back to the time of European settlement. Floods of 1858 and 1908 are a few older events that stand out for their devastation. Since our worst-known flood in September 2004, the watershed’s community continues numerous efforts to reduce flooding, protect or remove buildings at risk of flooding, improve water quality in our streams and reconnect people with local water recreation. We are reviving our river.
AUSTIN DAILY HERALD CEDAR RIVER STATE WATER TRAIL
Celebrating at the water’s edge In June 1911, Austin residents gathered along the Cedar River at Central Park to celebrate the start of 2.5 million gallons of spring water flowing daily into the city’s mains. Located along old Water Street (4th Ave NE) next to the city’s Water Works facility (former downtown power plant site), Central Park hosted several thousand people for that party. Hundreds of electric lights gleamed through the park’s trees and its fountain was fitted with colored, electric globes. “The waters laughed, bubbled, gurgled and splashed to the delight and pleasure of all,” the Austin Daily Herald wrote of the fountain in 1911. Austin then began promoting itself as having the “finest water supply in the state” thanks to the major project that piped in water from City Farm Springs, formerly Sargent Springs and the present site of Austin Country Club. Water was a big part of Central Park — Austin’s first park. Created in the 1890s, the park was on the same site where a new community recreation center is being built today – along the Cedar River’s west shoreline, just above the downtown dam. This same land was the site of Austin’s first mill — a primitive kind created and used by Native Americans to ground corn when they visited the area prior to European settlers arriving in the 1850s. Boasting many trees, Central Park featured a fountain, built in 1907, that spouted water into the air, landing in a small pool below. This water then drained down a path and under a small footbridge before flowing into the Cedar River. Children and adults often fished along that shoreline. Next to the city’s Water Works facility (built in 1887), Central Park was the official name but residents often called it Water Works Park as well as City Park, Riv-
erside Park and Lake Fritz (nickname for its fountain). It came before the city’s larger, more-popular parks along the river — Lafayette Park (circa 1905) and Horace Austin State Park (circa 1915). Central Park was vulnerable, though, to Austin’s frequent flooding. It also lost many trees from the August 1928 tornado that devastated downtown. “The city park at Austin — a beauty spot — was laid waste,” the Herald reported. “It will take 20 years for Austin to restore this beauty spot, which was snatched from her in the twinkle of an eye.” Central Park never really recovered, though. Austin’s growth led to the expansion of the downtown power plant, cutting into the park over the years. By 1967, the city directory no longer listed it as a park. In the coming year, though, Austin’s community recreation center will open to gather residents once again on the same site with great views of the river.
AUSTIN DAILY HERALD CEDAR RIVER STATE WATER TRAIL
A photo taken of Central Park in the early 1900s. Photo provided
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Public kickoff for We Are Water MN locally is Saturday After two years of planning, the Cedar River Watershed and Austin community are ready to host the We Are Water MN statewide traveling exhibit for the next seven weeks. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 27, a public kickoff will open the interactive, all-ages exhibit to the public at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center in Austin, 1304 21st St. N.E. An opening ceremony at 10 a.m. will feature local state Sen. Dan Sparks and Rep. Jeanne Poppe, who have led numerous water-related legislation for the Cedar River Watershed, along with officials from state agencies. Then the exhibit will be opened to the public. Half of the classroom space in the new visitors center will house most of the We Are Water MN exhibit pieces, including stations for listening to local people tell different water stories and for trying to stay profitable as you take the “Minnesota Farm Challenge.” Other features will be in the lobby area, including 27-foot-tall banner showing the depths of the Cedar River during major floods here. This public kickoff is one of four major events planned by the local committee. The others included offering a water bar/water booth at the annual Taste of Nations earlier in the month on April 6; offering a Canoemobile Community Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on May 18 at Austin Mill Pond; and putting on the nature center’s annual water festival. Many other events are planned through June. Free hot dogs donated by Hormel Foods and cookies from SuperFresh Produce will be served at the kickoff along with water next to the Austin Utilities’ displays showing how Austin gets its drinking water. Various activities will be offered during the kickoff, including a stream table for handson learning rom the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency; the CRWD’s interactive watershed demonstration table; and a “Monet Water Lilies” art project station using watercolor paint and pastels by Austin Area Arts instructor Katie Stromlund. Three, mini-presentations (about 20 minutes) also will be given in the nature center’s conference room: •11 a.m. “Your Austin Water Supply and How to Conserve and Save Water” by Kelly Lady of Austin Utilities •11:30 a.m. “Checking the Water Quality of Our Streams” by CRWD watershed technician
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The Jay C. Hormel Nature Center makes use of it’s proximity to Dobbins Creek to educate students on water health and ecology. Photo provided
Jay C. Hormel Nature Center: Protecting land and water By Luke Reese
Jay C. Hormel Nature Center naturalist
The We Are Water MN traveling exhibit will be stopping in Austin at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center starting on Saturday, April 27. Photo provided
James Fett, who then will lead an interactive demonstration on sampling water from Dobbins Creek at the nearby 21st St NE bridge. •12:30 p.m. “Our Local Water Story” by CRWD outreach coordinator Tim Ruzek. “Our planning committee has worked hard to make our hosting of We Are Water MN very educational, fun and interactive for the public,” said Tim Ruzek, outreach coordinator for Cedar River Watershed District, which is leading the local project. “We hope everyone takes time to not only check out the exhibit while it’s here but also to share their own water story.” We Are Water MN’s 2018-2019 traveling exhibit will be free to the public with viewing hours following the nature center’s regular
hours for its visitors center: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Saturdays; and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. CRWD is co-hosting the exhibit with the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center, with partnering agencies including Mower County Historical Society, Hormel Foods Corp., Austin Utilities, Discover Austin and Riverland Community College. We Are Water MN is a traveling exhibit focused on the relationships between people and water — how water connects story, history, faith, ethics, the arts and science. It is a partnership of the Humanities Center, MPCA, Minnesota Historical Society, Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Additional funding is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities. A full event schedule for We Are Water MN in the Cedar River Watershed is available on the CRWD website: www.cedarriverwd. org. More information about We Are Water MN and host site community events can be found at mnhum.org/water.
They Jay C. Hormel Nature Center surrounds and protects water at the confluence of the north and south branches of Dobbins Creek. In fact, one could say the nature center wouldn’t be where it is without a creek running through it. Proximity to water was probably a big factor in Jay Hormel’s decision to purchase land where he did. Proximity to the flood plain made Mr. Hormel’s property a great place to plant the trees that would become his personal arboretum. In 1971, after Austin established the nature center, it was decided that the forests and Dobbins Creek were not enough. A pond was excavated and prairies were restored around it. That pond and prairie significantly diversified the birds and wildlife that occupy the nature center. Additional forests and farmland were acquired and more prairies have been restored, further increasing quality habitat for wildlife. As this occurs, the water resource at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center becomes richer. Marshes and wet prairies slow and hold water on the landscape reducing the flash flooding potential in Dobbins Creek. Water that reaches the creek is cleaner and free of topsoil. In fact, phase 2 of the habitat restoration that we are working on will, in part, create more wet prairies and marshes by slowing the water running in an old drainage ditch. Managing and protecting the water resource at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center is a top priority that began over 90 years ago. Continuing that tradition ensures that southeast Minnesota will have a vibrant place to explore nature for generations to come.
AUSTIN DAILY HERALD CEDAR RIVER STATE WATER TRAIL
Importance of water Austin resident and Riverland student Oballa Oballa talks conservation in Africa Growing up in Africa, Austin resident Oballa Oballa was a strong believer in water conservation. His family’s lives depended on it. “Water conservation was one of the most important things my family focused on during the 10 years we had to live in a refugee camp,” said Oballa, who sometimes went two days without drinking water or eating food due to water scarcity. His family — which fled their native country of Ethiopia in 2003 due to the genocide there targeting the Anuak ethnic group — worked hard in the refugee camp to avoid running out of water, which mainly was used for cooking and drinking. “In the camp, the water was only distributed twice a day,” said Oballa, who now is the Student Senate president for Riverland Community College in Austin. Each family had several canisters and received about 20 liters of water (about 5.5 gallons) per person per day. “Imagine living a life where you only take a shower 3 times a week or wash clothes one time a week, and sometimes you don’t get those options at all,” he said. Oballa grew up in an Ethiopian town surrounded by lakes and rivers. His family didn’t need to worry about access to water until they were forced to flee the country to save their lives. In 2005, Oballa’s family arrived at the Dadaab refugee camp in a semi-arid part of Kenya. As of January 2018, Dadaab – a United Nations base – was hosting 235,269 registered refugees and asylum seekers in four camps, making it the third-largest such complex in the world. “I did not know the importance of water until we were in Dadaab,” Oballa said. “Water is one of the main nutrients that the human body needs on a daily basis.” People in refugee camps live on the bare minimum, Oballa said, adding that life in the sprawling camp was not easy. Aid agencies struggle to meet the basic needs of each refugee, such as providing each person at least 20 liters of water a day. Water scarcity is a huge issue in refugee camps and most parts of Africa. Yet, when Oballa moved to the United States, he saw people wasting water every day, which bothers him. “Sometimes I tell people at my apartment to stop leaving tap water running and to save water,” he said. “There are so many people out there who do not understand the problem of water shortage because they live in a place with many lakes and an abundance of drinking water.” AUSTIN DAILY HERALD CEDAR RIVER STATE WATER TRAIL
Children from a Somalian community wait for more than four hours to collect water at the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya, where Oballa Oballa spent about 10 years of his childhood. The tap is used by more than 250 people in this part of the camp to use as their main source of water. Photo provided
$ “Water conservation was one of the most important things my family focused on during the 10 years we had to live in a refugee camp.” Oballa Oballa Fortunately, the Dadaab camp now has solar energy funded by foreign aid to help produce water and increase water supply to refugees, who now can get the minimum required quantity of water per day.
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Bathing Beach on the Cedar River, ca. 1910. Visible in the back are two bath houses where people placed their belongings in wire baskets. Photos provided by Mower County Historical Society
Austin was a swimming paradise By Jaimie Timm Mower County Historical Society
It might be hard to believe, but the Austin area used to have numerous swimming beaches and swimming holes. Local residents often cooled off with a dip in the Cedar River during the hot summer months whether that be at the downtown Austin Mill Pond, north of the city in the Ramsey Mill Pond area, the northwest corner of East Side Lake, or at several places on Turtle Creek. The water, however, was not always safe or healthy for swimming. In the early 1930s, Austin Mill Pond’s swimming beach — part of the Horace Austin State Park at the time — was closed frequently due to poor water quality. When this happened, officials lowered the downtown dam to increase the river’s flow and they actually sometimes poured chlorine directly into the river to “clean” it. This lack of sanitary water for swimming eventually led the city to construct its first chlorinated pool in the late 1930s at the same site of to-
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Diving at the swimming pool. The deepest part of the pool was 10 feet.
day’s city pool. The pool was partially funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The PWA, part of the New Deal program of 1933, was a public works construction agency focused on funding projects involving skilled and semi-skilled labor to help alleviate some of the job shortages during the Great Depression. Austin officials received $26,533 of PWA funding for the pool and raised the rest of the needed funds through bonds. In total, the reinforced concrete pool cost $60,000 to build, and was 100 feet by 150 feet. It held 480,000 gallons of water and featured the latest in water-clarifying technology. The pool was built in Horace Austin State Park and opened on June 24, 1939. This history shows that our watershed district has always made an effort to provide healthy places for the public to swim. Current efforts to improve water quality hopefully will lead to a time in the future where we will have swimmable waters again in our watershed. AUSTIN DAILY HERALD CEDAR RIVER STATE WATER TRAIL
How saving water saves energy By Kelly Lady Austin Utilities
Most people know that using less energy can help save money and protect the environment. From switching light bulbs to replacing appliances, energy-efficient technologies are all around us. But did you know that saving water is another way to save energy in our homes and other buildings? Before your water reaches the tap, it takes a vast amount of energy to pump, treat, and deliver it from the source. In fact, the energy it takes to treat and deliver water for only 10 households could power a refrigerator for more than two years. What’s more, a lot of energy in your home is used to heat the water you use to shower, shave, rinse dishes, and wash clothing. That’s why anything you can do to use less water in these fixtures and appliances will not only save energy, but can also lower your utility bills in more ways than one. One of the best ways to save water, energy, and money without sacrificing quality is by installing WaterSense® labeled products, which are independently certified to meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) criteria for both water efficiency and performance. Products that earn the WaterSense label use at least 20 percent less water
but must also be tested to ensure they provide the same satisfying spray, flow, or flush as standard plumbing fixtures. Take showerheads; in addition to providing a powerful spray, WaterSense labeled showerheads save enough electricity to power a 60-watt light bulb for eight hours with every shower. A WaterSense labeled showerhead will save the average family more than $70 in annual energy and water costs and 2,900 gallons of water per year, or the amount of water it takes to wash 70 loads of laundry and enough energy to power a home for 13 days every year! Don’t stop there; when you look for the ENERGY STAR label on dishwashers and clothes washers, you’ll also save both energy and water. Even a simple step such as installing WaterSense labeled faucet aerators in bathroom faucets, which only costs a few dollars, saves the amount of electricity needed to dry your hair every day for a year. Austin Utilities is a WaterSense and ENERGY STAR partner and offers several rebates for WaterSense and ENERGY STAR labeled products through their Conserve and Save program. For more information about rebates visit www.austinutilities.com/pages/residential-conserve/.
AUSTIN DAILY HERALD CEDAR RIVER STATE WATER TRAIL
This kayak, donated by Runnings, will go to this year’s winner of the Cedar Scenes contest. Photo provided
Capture the beauty of the Cedar River Watershed Anyone with a camera and photos showing a water-related scene in the Cedar River Watershed (Minnesota side) can have a chance at weekly prizes and a free kayak given away in October. Cedar River Watershed District is launching on April 22 its third-annual Cedar Scenes weekly photo contest that seeks to encourage the public to get outdoors and help showcase the local waterways, including the Cedar River State Water Trail, Dobbins Creek, Rose Creek and others. This year, CRWD also will accept waterways, such as Turtle Creek and the Little Cedar River, that are not within the CRWD’s political boundaries but are part of the greater Cedar River Watershed. In 2018, Cedar Scenes attracted 335 photos of local water-related scenes (a 45-image increase from 2017) submitted by 55 individuals (down by just four people from 2017). Corey Kreutzbender, who submitted 23 photos for the contest, was drawn as the winner of a kayak sponsored by the Austin Runnings store. Cedar Scenes will run weekly – photos submitted Monday to Sunday to count for a week – through Sept. 29. Runnings in
Austin once again is sponsoring the kayak grand-prize giveaway to be drawn in October. To qualify, each photo entered during the season for Cedar Scenes will count as one entry for the kayak drawing. Weekly prizes will be about $10 in value, such as Chamber Bucks to use at local businesses, with the week’s winning photo picked by CRWD staff. All photos entered for Cedar Scenes will be shared on CRWD’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cedarriverwd and can be used by CRWD for future public uses. Submitted images must be the person’s own photo or have been approved for submission by the photographer. Entries must include the submitter’s name, photo location and date. All ages can participate. Photos also can be submitted via email to tim.ruzek@mowerswcd.org or brought to the CRWD office at 1408 21st Ave. N.W. in Austin behind Runnings. Weekly winners will be announced on CRWD’s Facebook page, with prizes picked up at the CRWD office. The grand prize winner of the kayak needs to be at least age 18 or come with a parent or guardian to get the kayak.
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