Public Input sought for comprehensive water quality plan

Rock County residents can help decide where state water quality dollars should be spent by attending two public meetings next week.
The meetings —Tuesday, Aug. 22, and Wednesday, Aug. 23, — are part of the One Watershed-One Plan (1W1P) Initiative for the six-county area that includes Rock County.
Informal votes at each of the public meetings will help target and prioritize concerns for a collaborative water plan.
Doug Bos of the Rock County Land Management Office co-chairs the 1W1P work group to draft a collaborative plan.
“Water doesn’t stop at the county line or isn’t solely defined by county lines,” he said. “By planning our actions to cover the whole drainage area of a watershed, we can better focus our efforts to effectively improve water quality.”
Rock County Soil and Water Conservation District and Land Management Office are working with conservation and watershed officials in Pipestone, Lincoln, Murray, Nobles and Jackson counties to develop one strategic plan. They began meeting last fall.
Bos said each of the public meetings begins with a 20-minute introduction followed by self-guided resource tables specific to various conservation topics.
“We are planning it as an interactive-type meeting,” Bos said.
After learning about the various conservation areas, participants will vote on which area is the most important to them.
The informal vote will help planners focus on the top environmental concerns for a joint plan within the Missouri River Basin watershed that includes all of Rock County.
In 2015 the state’s Board of Water and Soil Resources began working with local soil and water conservation districts to develop a single water management plan by watersheds, replacing water plans developed by individual counties.
The state defines a watershed as an area of land where water drains into a single source such as a river, stream or lake.
The Missouri River Basin group has worked with a consultant to prioritize, target and implement various conservation measures within the watershed area to improve water quality.
The collaborative plan could garner more dollars locally to implement water quality improvement practices.
Bos said previous improvements required individual counties to apply for state grants. Each county would compete for a limited amount of dollars.
“We don’t always get money to this corner of the state,” Bos said.
Under the collaborative water plan the area could receive more grant dollars from the state’s Clean Water Legacy Fund.
The first public meeting will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 22, at the Hickory Lodge, 2015 N. Humiston Ave., Worthington.
The second meeting will be from 9 to 11 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 23, at the Pipestone County Emergency Services building at 811 Fifth St. SE in Pipestone.