What's the problem with Mud Creek?
Located in Muscatine County, Mud Creek landed on Iowa's impaired waters list because of excess sediment and nutrients.

Sediment from the watershed runs off fields and into the creek, delivering thousands of tons of sediment annually. Excess sediment delivered to the river can reduce water clarity, damage habitat of aquatic life, fill in streambeds, clog drainageways and deliver phosphorous.

Those looking to preserve the water quality in Mud Creek are also battling nitrogen and phosphorus, two of the most common nutrients found in Iowa. These nutrients come from manure and chemical fertilizers used for agriculture and in urban areas. Nutrients like this can cloud the water, create low oxygen and high ammonia levels and lead to poor aquatic life diversity in Mud Creek.
Back to top

What's being done to help Mud Creek?
Prior to the Mud Creek Water Quality Project, almost 5,000 tons of sediment reached Mud Creek every year. With the introduction of conservation practices, landowners have reduced sediment reaching Mud Creek to 4,774 tons annually. This is a reduction of 170 tons per year.

One of the main concerns in the Mud Creek watershed is soil erosion. Conservation practices like terraces can reduce this concern. Terraces are a very efficient practice in reducing soil erosion and sediment in the Muscatine County watershed. Terraces are built around a hillside and either slow runoff and guide it to the bottom of the hill or collect runoff and store it until the runoff can be absorbed by the ground. Terraces must be properly designed and maintained to combat erosion.

Grassed waterways in the Mud Creek watershed are effective in reducing soil erosion. These natural or constructed channels move surface water across the land without causing soil erosion. The vegetation in the waterway slows the water, protecting the land from rill and gully erosion.

Filter strips are strips of grass or other vegetation used to trap sediment (and pollutants attached to it) from runoff in Mud Creek.

Another popular conservation practice in the Mud Creek watershed is nutrient management. This type of management helps keep excess nutrients out of surface and ground water. The result of this management creates reduced costs for landowners because they only use the necessary amounts and types of fertilizers. Using nutrient management also creates better water quality and is fairly easy to implement.

What can I do to help?
Landowners in the Mud Creek watershed can improve the creek by partnering with the Mud Creek Water Quality Project.

Paul Viner, watershed project coordinator, can work with you to evaluate your property and identify practices that can help both the creek and your property. Viner can also help find financial assistance to install those practices. Landowners participating in the watershed project can generally get improved financial assistance opportunities.

Residents of the Mud Creek watershed can volunteer as part of IOWATER. Monitors collect information on the levels of nitrates, nitrites, dissolved oxygen, pH, chloride and phosphate in the creeks.

Monitors can also report on the water's temperature and color, and on biological life in the monitoring area, which is often an indicator of water quality.

Monitors report their data to the IOWATER online database, where the public can view water monitoring results from across the state at IOWATER.
Back to top

What is the future of Mud Creek?
The future of Mud Creek is in the hands of the landowners and residents that live in the watershed. A number of conservation practices are already in place and if these are maintained into the future, generations to come will be able to enjoy what Mud Creek has to offer.
Back to top

Meet the project coordinator
Paul Viner is the District Conservationist with the NRCS in Scott and Muscatine Counties and the Mud Creek Watershed Project Coordinator. He is a 1977 graduate of the University of Wisconsin Steven's Point with degees in Biology, Resources Management and a minor in soils. Viner started with the NRCS as a Soil Scientist in 1978, mapping soils in Green County, Muscatine County and Scott County. In 1987, he became a soil conservationist, and has worked as a District Conservationist since 1989. He took on duties in both Scott and Muscatine Counties in 2007.

For other ways you can get involved with the Mud Creek Water Quality Project, contact Paul Viner, watershed coordinator, at (319)653-6654 or Paul.Viner@ia.usda.gov
Back to top

Project partners

• Iowa DNR
• Iowa Department of Agriculture - Division of Soil Conservation
• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

For More Information
Local:
Paul Viner
Mud Creek Watershed Project Coordinator
(563) 391-1403
Paul.Viner@ia.usda.gov
Muscatine County NRCS Office

Statewide:
Steve Hopkins
DNR Nonpoint Source Program Coordinator
(515) 281-6402
Stephen.Hopkins@dnr.iowa.gov