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Mary Beth Stevenson - Watersheds & Source Water Coordinator - City of Cedar Rapids | LinkedIn. Watersheds & Source Water Coordinator at City of Cedar Rapids. Cedar Rapids, Iowa,...
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Sep 19, 2023 · Posted on September 19, 2023. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (IAWA) – City of Cedar Rapids Watersheds & Source Water Program Manager Mary Beth Stevenson has been named the winner of the 2023 Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance (IAWA) Public Impact Award for her impressive partnership efforts, urban-rural focus, and her role in increasing the pace and scale ...
Mar 8, 2022 · Mary Beth Stevenson works upstream to help farmers implement conservation practices that benefit the Cedar Rapids community. (Photo by Mary Beth Stevenson) From a young age, Mary Beth Stevenson knew she wanted her work to make an impact on the environment.
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2020 was a jumpstart year for Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Exchange, a nutrient trading program that incentivizes municipalities to partner with farmers to help them meet their wastewater permit obligations. In exchange for financial and technical support to implement nutrient reduction practices, a city can count the nutrient reductions farmers gener...
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District led the creation of the Yahara Watershed Improvement Network, a.k.a. Yahara WINS, which got started as a pilot in 2012 and went full scale in 2017. The partnership includes many local partners – from the watershed’s 20+ cities, towns, and villages to local nonprofits and a farmer-led group called Yahara Pride ...
What do you think is the most essential lever of change in your respective projects?
Stevenson: For the Middle Cedar Watershed, I think there are three levers. The most important has been Iowa DNR’s willingness to create a flexible program. Second, farmers who are willing to partner on adopting practices that may be new to their operation. Third, the Soil & Water Outcomes Fund has enabled the City to partner with far more producers than we would have been able to on our own. Griffin: The key driver to start the Yahara WINS partnership was the creation of a total maximum daily...
What progress or success are you seeing so far as a result of the project – in terms of both measurable environmental outcomes and ripple effects?
Griffin: Yahara WINS partners kept over 50,000 pounds of phosphorus on the land and out of area surface waters in 2019, nearly doubling the reduction projected for the year. [We are still calculating 2020 reductions.] While it’s encouraging to see actual reductions significantly higher than projected reductions, [intense storms] in 2019 demonstrated the need for continued innovation and adaptation in how we prevent runoff. Intense storms, which are becoming more frequent with climate change,...
What is one thing you’ve learned in implementing the project that you wish you had known from the start?
Stevenson: It takes a lot of time and staff capacity. Running the models to calculate nutrient load benefits can be very tricky and requires a lot of data from the farmer on their inputs. Establishing partnerships also takes time. In December 2019, the City hired a watershed coordinator who has been able to focus on the project, which is definitely very important. Griffin: We knew about climate change, but we could have done a better job of communicating effectively to partners and stakeholde...
Mary Beth Stevenson. Mary Beth Stevenson is the Watersheds and Source Water Coordinator for the City of Cedar Rapids. Mary Beth has been working for Cedar Rapids since December of 2019 and previously worked for the Iowa DNR Watershed Improvement Section for 9 years.
For more information on Cedar Rapid's efforts, contact: Mary Beth Stevenson Watershed & Source Water Coordinator City of Cedar Rapids 319- 286- 5942 mb.stevenson@cedar-rapids.org; Michael Kuntz Utilities Environmental Manager City of Cedar Rapids 319-286-5282 mikek2@cedar-rapids.org
Mary Beth Stevenson. County: Linn. Q&A. What are you doing to practice and promote soil and water quality? I work for the City of Cedar Rapids Utilities Department as the Watersheds & Source Water Program Manager.
