About Hewitt Creek
What is a water quality project?
Why is a water quality project important?
How is a water quality project accomplished?
What can you do as a citizen?
Performance Measures to Evaluate Water Quality Accomplishments - Hewitt Creek Watershed
To protect northeast Iowa Water resources, it is essential for residents to understand water quality issues and participate in planning solutions for their own watershed. Watershed residents have assumed responsibility for identifying locally acceptable strategies, targeting their implementation, and measuring their success. They have defined and demonstrated performance measures for environmental stewardship that have a reasonable cost and are linked with accountable management decisions.
Hewitt Creek Mission Statement
Hewitt Creek Goals
- Hewitt Creek is a 23,055-acre subwatershed of the 592-square-mile North Fork and 1,879-square-mile (1.2 million acre) Maquoketa River basin.
- The Hickory Creek branch originates near Bankston joining Hewitt Creek in Section 21, New Wine Township, and flows to the North Fork Maquoketa River in Dyersville. The watershed is 1.2% urban, 91.2% agricultural and 7.5% woodland.
- The 2002 Iowa DNR Section 305(b) water quality assessment report identifies the lower 4.4 miles of Hickory Creek as "partially supporting" of aquatic life use based on the number and types of macroinvertebrates and fish species collected. This stream segment is listed on Iowa's EPA Section 303(d) impaired waters list (Part two - one or more pollutants and Part five - biologically-impaired).
- Hewitt Creek ranks sixth among 25 similar size Maquoketa River subwatershed indexed for their delivery of sediment, total nitrogen and phosphorous. It also delivers relatively high concentrations of fecal coliform bacteria.
What is a water quality project?
- An opportunity for those who live in or have a stake in Hewitt Creek watershed to voluntarily determine the future of the area.
- process that will lead to local decisions about ways to protect soil and water quality that are practical and cost-effective.
Why is a water quality project important?
- A locally-led project demonstrates that the watershed community can evaluate and set their own goals and standards for environmental protection and economic development.
- It is your opportunity to manage your water resource.
- If we don't address water quality issues in Hewitt Creek today, someone else will likely do it for us tomorrow.
How is a water quality project accomplished?
- Invite all watershed residents and landowners to participate in this project.
- Together, assess watershed conditions and options.
- Develop strategies to improve the Hewitt Creek watershed.
- Implement strategies.
- Measure success.
What can you do as a citizen?
- Think about what clean water means to you, your family, your business, your schools, churches and others in the Hewitt Creek area.
- Get involved! Learn about the options. Come prepared to join your neighbors in setting watershed goals--and make them happen.
Performance Measures to Evaluate Water Quality Accomplishments - Hewitt Creek Watershed
To protect northeast Iowa Water resources, it is essential for residents to understand water quality issues and participate in planning solutions for their own watershed. Watershed residents have assumed responsibility for identifying locally acceptable strategies, targeting their implementation, and measuring their success. They have defined and demonstrated performance measures for environmental stewardship that have a reasonable cost and are linked with accountable management decisions.
Hewitt Creek Mission Statement
- Use pro-active resident-led water quality performance management, supported by science and technology, including water monitoring.
- Develop appropriate farm-level incentives that measure watershed environmental performance, reduce ambient water pollutant levels and maintain farm economic performance.
- Improve the water quality and quantity delivered from the Hewitt Creek watershed to Dyersville and the North Fork of the Maquoketa River.
Hewitt Creek Goals
- Have Hickory-Hewitt removed from the impaired water list (off the radar screen).
- Increase the fish index from 37 (fair) to the regional norm 71.
- Increase the Benthic Macroinvertebrate Index from 52 (fair) to the norm 59.
- Managers of 40 percent of the corn acres complete cornstalk nitrate nitrogen (two or more comparative management) tests.
- Biannual phosphorus testing on 40 percent of watershed acres and reducing acres testing very high.
- Twenty-five percent of farms complete at least two P index evaluations to determine fields that have a high risk of P loss.
- Operators of 25 percent of the land complete two or more soil conditioning index comparisons to determine how most efficiently to increase soil organic matter.
- Twenty percent of farms complete self assessment of farmstead and livestock operation for potential contaminant contribution to surface and ground water.
- Attain normal and rainfall event water monitoring for N, P, turbidity, fecal coliform bacteria and macroinvertebrate (stream life) quantity and quality with reduction of levels by 40 percent from baseline levels.