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'One Watershed One Plan'

Subhead
County to collaborate on 10-year plan
By
Mavis Fodness

Rock County residents have been asking more questions lately about water quality.
The Rock County Commissioners recently acted on those inquiries as Doug Bos, assistant director for the Rock County Land Management Office, delivered them.
“We have had more and more calls in our office on water quality, which may be surprising but maybe not,” Bos said.
He surmised that nationwide news reports about poor water quality in other communities might have sparked the rise in phone calls to the local soil and water conservation office.
Bos said callers are wondering what the county is actively doing to protect and improve the county’s water quality.
On April 19 the commissioners signed a resolution agreeing to collaborate with adjoining counties on a One Watershed One Plan.
The project will further prioritize, target and measure actions by the LMO to continue to meet or exceed the state’s current water quality standards.
“The water plan is our ‘plan of attack,’” Bos said.
Rock County’s current 10-year water plan expires at the end of the year.
Instead of revisiting current actions taking place only in Rock County, the One Watershed One Plan works with multiple agencies within the Missouri River Basin Watershed.
In preparation for One Watershed One Plan, the LMO recently completed a Level II Performance Review by the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources.
Each year BSWR reviews 24 soil and water conservation districts on a 10-year rotation. The final report indicated that the Rock County LMO met nine out of the 12 high performance standards for counties and 10 out of 14 high standards for SWCDs.
BSWR’s Jenny Gieseke prepared the report and presented the findings at the April 19 meeting.
“The Rock LMO is a strong performer in the delivery of soil and water conservation services,” the report read. “The majority of surveyed partners believe the Rock LMO is doing good work and are good to work with.”
Under its recommendations, however, the state encouraged local officials to look at the entire Missouri River Basin Watershed in developing its next 10-year comprehensive water plan.
“The basis of the idea is that the state feels we will do a better job for water quality if we plan it on a watershed,” Bos said.
The Missouri River Basin Watershed begins in a small portion of Lyon County and stretches southeast through Pipestone, Nobles and Rock counties to portions of Murray and Jackson counties.
The One Watershed One Plan process may take up to two years to finish.
As part of the resolution, LMO officials will apply for a BSWR grant to complete the comprehensive water plan process.

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