Watershed Planning 101

Policy
Click the image to download.
As Iowa looks to address its water quality problem, enabling success through watershed-level planning and project implementation is a crucial step. Developing a watershed management plan is an early part of the water quality improvement process that enables local buy-in and jump starts action in a watershed.
 

What is a watershed management plan?

A watershed management plan is a road map for reducing flood risk, improving water quality, assessing resource concerns, and outlining actionable steps that can be taken within a watershed to address these challenges. As of November 2019, there are 14 Watershed Management Authorities (WMAs) that have a completed watershed plan on file. Notably, this does not include watershed projects statewide that have developed watershed plans outside of the 26 WMAs.

Download the fact sheet to learn what makes a strong watershed plan, the benefits of a watershed plan, and for examples of funding used to create existing watershed plans in Iowa.