DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey and Bob Quinn from WHO Radio today kicked off the “1040 Clean Water Act” with the goal of building 1,040 rain gardens across the state.  Northey and Quinn encouraged Iowans to participate in the campaign by installing a rain garden, taking a photograph and sending it to BobQuinn@clearchannel.com.

“Rain gardens are fairly simple yet very attractive landscaping features that allow water to infiltrate rather than just runoff a house and yard and carry contaminants into our state’s rivers, lakes and streams,” Northey said.  “Current storm water systems are designed to move water quickly and prevent flooding; they give no concern to water quality.   These features allow water to filter through the soil rather than just running into the street.”

“My one rain garden filters 33,000 gallons of water every year, so if we can get 1040 more installed across the state, that will make a real difference,” Quinn said.  “I think that everybody is supportive of clean water and this is one way they can take-action.”

A rain garden is a depression or a shallow bowl made in the landscape that is planted with flowers and grasses that capture runoff from rain that falls on roofs, driveways or yards.  The captured runoff is allowed to infiltrate into the soil, which acts as a filter.

More information and a guide on how to build a rain garden can be found at www.IowaAgriculture.gov and at www.whoradio.com.  Iowans can also contact their local Soil and Water Conservation District to be put in touch with an urban conservationist.

“Rain gardens are easy, look great and can be done in a few hours,” Quinn added.  “We would eventually like to see not just 1040, but thousands of rain gardens installed across the state.”

In addition, training sessions on rain garden installation will be held Ankeny and May 29th and in Johnson County on June 2nd from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day.  The training in Ankeny will be at the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities, 1735 NE 70th Ave., Ankeny and the training in Johnson County will be at the F.W. Kent Park Education Center, 2048 Hwy 6 NW, Oxford.

Hundreds of thousands of gallons of rain falls on an urban lot in a year. In Iowa, rainfall averages anywhere from 28-36 inches per year. That means an acre of land in Iowa will receive anywhere from 760,000 to 977,500 gallons of rain in a typical year. The owner of a half acre urban lot in central Iowa would receive approximately 434,500 gallons of rain each year.  If all that rainfall was captured in 50 gallon barrels, the line of barrels would stretch more than 4 miles long.

“This initiative is just a part of a larger effort to look at the issue of ‘urban conservation,” Northey said.  “To protect and improve our water quality we need all Iowans, both rural and urban, doing their part to help.”

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship now has five urban conservationists on staff, with four located in the rapidly developing communities of Council Bluffs, the Iowa Great Lakes, Iowa City, and Des Moines.  In addition to working with individual homeowners, they provide information and technical assistance on soil and water conservation methods to land development professionals, city officials and government agencies.

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