Many agree that progress has been made over the last 10 years to improve the Shell Rock River Watershed District (Fountain Lake and Albert Lea Lake). However, if long-term, improved water quality is to be sustained, we have to start with soil health upstream and stop the flood of soil sediments, nutrients and pollutants going into water ways and lakes.

Soil health is the starting point because healthy soil filters and holds water in a natural process that depends on regeneration through natural processes. As water moves through healthy soil, almost all substances are retained or detoxified into the soil structure.

In contrast, unhealthy soils with poor structure perpetuate surface runoff and do not have the capacity to filter, hold and retain rain water. The result is increased sediments, nutrients and pollutants entering water ways.

Tiling escalation in the past 10 years has also impacted water quality. Fall fertilizers, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, are often applied eight months before spring planting. With fall and winter moisture, these substances may run off the surface or move through the tile system. Buffer strips help, but when one tiles underneath them, the water moves directly into the water flow without the benefit of the buffer strip infiltration.

Improved soil health and water quality needs to be a collaborative effort by all stake holders in the SRWD and can only be a win-win situation.

To improve soil health and thus, water quality, cropping practices that build bioactive carbon and microbial diversity in the soil as well as soil nutrient retention and balance are needed.

Four basic principles improve soil health: keep the soil covered as much as possible; disturb the soil as little as possible; grow plants throughout the year to feed the soil; and diversify cropping systems with crop rotation and cover crops.

Plant diversity is the main way a grower can improve microbial diversity, build soil organic matter and a system to improve nutrient retention/balance. This approach will hold more moisture and nutrients at the point source and improve water quality down-stream.

Expanded crop rotations and cover crops can help improve water quality down-stream and provide more profitability for the grower. Cover crop roots and soil microbes can help remove nutrients from the soil water before it is leached away.

The all-volunteer Freeborn County Soil Health Team meets monthly and includes stake holders in the county who are interested in soil health and water quality. They are sponsoring a free Fall Soil Health Field Day on Sept. 23. One of the topics is “How Farm Management Affects Water Infiltration.”

I grew up near Albert Lea and remember when Fountain Lake was dredged last time. Since then have we done enough to prevent the lake from silting in again? The plan is now to dredge the lake again. If we are to sustain our lakes and water quality long-term, we must improve soil health upstream.

Jim Ladlie

Albert Lea