Help Keep the Water Clean this Winter

Photo Credit: US Fish and Wildlife Service

We Can All Do Our Part

The region’s lakes, rivers, and creeks provide the drinking water for humans and livestock, pets, and wildlife. These waters also provide irrigation for farms, habitat for fish and wildlife, and recreation opportunities that have become increasingly important during these strange times.

While our nation’s water quality has drastically improved since the 1960s when rivers routinely caught fire (thank you, Clean Water Act!), several waterways in southern Illinois still have pollutant levels above recommended guidelines. Protecting our water is important year-round, and in winter, particular actions can help reduce the amount of water pollution coming from communities, fields, and yards.

Road Salt and De-Icing

Sodium chloride, or road salt, is widely applied to roads, parking lots, sidewalks, and driveways to improve travel safety. This valuable safety measure, however, has considerable negative impacts on water.

When the temperatures increase, the salt does not evaporate. Instead, more than half of the applied salt washes into lakes and streams and, the chloride settles into the deepest areas of our region’s waterways, reducing oxygen in the water and causing harm to fish and other water dwellers. The sodium from road salt can then enter drinking water sources causing levels that may become harmful to people with heart problems and high blood pressure. The other half of the applied salt sinks into the ground, killing beneficial soil bacteria and seeping into the groundwater that many people use for drinking water.

So, what can you do instead?

Here are some alternatives with fewer impacts on water:

• Apply magnesium chloride to surfaces before winter storms to decrease the need for a salt application.

• For driveways and walkways, the best alternative is to shovel early and often. You can then determine where a deicing agent is needed, if at all.

Fields and Home Vegetable Gardens

When fields and vegetable gardens lay bare in the winter months, the exposed soil is highly susceptible to wind and water erosion. This erosion carries away the soil’s nutrients needed for healthy crops and deposits them instead in lakes and creeks. This causes health issues for wildlife and making drinking water more costly to treat.

So, what do we recommend? COVER CROPS!

For agriculture: Plant cover crops in the fall after corn and soybeans have been harvested. This can reduce nutrient loss by 50% and erosion by 90%. Cereal rye, winter wheat, and lentils are just a few of the options. Although the initial cost of introducing cover crops can be a hurdle because of special equipment needed, the consistent use of cover crops increases yields and profits for farmers. The State of Illinois agrees; check out Illinois Department of Agriculture’s program: “Fall Covers for Spring Savings”.

For your home vegetable garden: Cover crops act as a living mulch in your home garden. When planted late in the growing season (early fall), the plants will die over winter and wilt, creating a weed barrier for you in the Spring. Winter peas and oats are some of the many options.

Leave the Leaves, But...

You may hear us tout the benefits of leaving your fall leaves in your landscape to benefit wildlife. This practice provides cover for overwintering pollinators and other critters that use the leaves for warmth and shelter. However, leaving leaves should be practiced with some additional care for those of us living in town. Autumn leaf litter contributes significant amounts of phosphorus to stormwater, which reduces oxygen levels in lakes and streams. As you might have guessed, low oxygen causes fish and other wildlife survival problems. It also contributes to algae blooms that can release toxins, making it unsafe for humans, too.

What’s more is that if leaves are allowed to accumulate in your street gutters, they eventually clog storm drains and storm sewers. Clogged storm sewers cause snowmelt and rainwater to pool up on the street and in your yard instead of draining into the system.

So, what can you do?

• Rake your leaves away from the street and drainage areas, and use them to cover your landscape beds. Think of it like mulch, and leave them there until Spring (late March or early April, typically) to help wildlife. Bag up what you cannot fit in the beds for community leaf collection.

• Participate in your community’s leaf collection program. Check with your local municipality about its requirements. Each city is different.

•Use your lawnmower to mulch your leaves, which will help fertilize your lawn without using harmful chemicals. Leaf mulch can be spread in landscaping to keep beds warm over winter.

• Compost your leaves to use in your garden. Those crunchy brown leaves are essential for balanced compost. Keep your street’s gutters and storm drains clear of leaves and debris. Your entire neighborhood will thank you for preventing flooding!

Applying these simple practices in your community, garden, or agricultural practice makes it easy for you to be a part of protecting the region’s water.

HeartLands Conservancy may be able to help you with erosion issues on your streambank, shoreline, or riparian zone. For a consultation or to understand options, please contact Tyler Burk, Project Manager, at tyler.burk@ heartlandsconservancy.org or call (618) 566-4451 ext 25