Photos by Kay Westhues
Never far from a river or a lake, it’s easy for Michiana residents to take water for granted. But with increasing consumption needed for farming, industries and energy sectors like chip plants, as well as a loosening of environmental policies, conserving and protecting our water resources are more important than ever.
It’s a looming global problem so severe that the United Nations General Assembly officially designated 2018 to 2028 as the International Decade for Action on “Water for Sustainable Development” to avert a worldwide water crisis.
And it’s not just a crisis in faraway places.
“When it comes to water, we face a variety of challenges,” says George McManus III, Berrien County, Michigan, drain commissioner who also operates a vegetable farm with an emphasis on sustainability and soil health. “Conservation and drainage are all very complicated issues with ramifications that are interconnected in ways that most people who aren’t farmers never really consider.”
Calling water management a science and an art, McManus says that the different types of elevations, soil and drainage all come into play in water management. With climate change and more severe storms, drainage becomes a major issue.
“Flooding is disastrous for crops if they’re not made to grow in water—and we don’t raise rice here in Southwest Michigan—but just removing the water isn’t the answer, because when water drains too fast after a heavy rainfall it carries soils away and floods the main tributaries, which in Berrien County are the Galien and St. Joseph Rivers,” says McManus, noting that the loss of nutrient-rich topsoil means lower crop yields and an increased need for fertilizers, thus decreasing profits.
Cover crops
“Fields have to have a way to block the flow and hold the water back,” says Jennifer Tank, director of the University of Notre Dame Environmental Change Initiative. “To prevent this, it’s important not to leave fields bare during the fallow season. Fields planted with cover crops are much less vulnerable than completely bare fields.”
She’s talking about the surprisingly green fields we sometimes see in the winter when most fields are bare. According to Tank, cover crops such as carpets of green grass act as a filter, enriching the health of the soil by building up nutrients while also preventing sediment carrying nitrogen and other chemicals from entering the waterways.
Short term, planting cover crops is more expensive than letting fields remain fallow. Tank says that many farmers lack the financial bandwidth to implement environmental policies. She is supportive of government funding to help farmers with such issues, stating what’s good for local farmers is good for the country.
Wetlands
David Van Gilder, senior policy and legal director at the Hoosier Environmental Council, agrees, adding “Another major concern is the loss of wetlands acreage in recent years,” because of the way they help manage drainage by absorbing excess water, reducing flooding and filtering pollutants from agricultural runoff.
“Even if you’re a person who does not care about birds, insects or ecology,” he says, “you still have to worry about the loss of a major natural infrastructure that prevents your basement from flooding and your sewer backing up.”
According to a report released by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, half of wetlands in the lower 48 states are gone, and losses continue, mostly in the Southeast, Great Lakes and Prairie Pothole regions due to various factors, including development.
Van Gilder says, “Scientific predictions are that there will be more intense storms in most parts of Indiana and heavy rain will come in a shorter length of time, exceeding the ability of the ground to absorb it without the protection of surrounding wetland areas. That will increase the erosion from farmland, and it will wash away expensive fertilizers and herbicides that will increase prices. People need to think about that.”
Policy
A proposal by the federal government would, if enacted, more narrowly define “Waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act to waterways navigable by boat with continuous surface connections. Estimates indicate that could remove protection for approximately 80% of American wetlands. States could elect to continue to protect their wetlands, but Van Gilder says that years ago, Indiana unwisely decided that no environmental rule in the state would be more stringent than federal rules.
“So as soon as the federal rollbacks happen, so do state rollbacks,” he says, adding that without wetlands as filters, drinking water will become more contaminated. “It’s very important that people know what it’s going on. It’s very easy for us to walk around in a bubble and not address the issues, but it’s not going away and it’s not getting better.”
Taking action
“We need to think about practices that create resilience,” says Tank. “We need to be good stewards of the Great Lakes and the St. Joseph River Basin, because without that blue economy, we’re in big trouble. Look at Lake Erie: That region struggles because it turns into a pea-green soup every few years.”
Sending a message to policymakers such as local politicians and city and county council members is important, says Van Gilder, as is providing information, including to young people.
What we put on our plates is also a statement.
For those who want to make sustainability choices with the food they buy, Tank suggests reading the small print to see if the product is local or asking the growers at a farmers market about their farming practices. “The more local you buy, the more you’re making good sustainability choices.”
Travel/food writer Jane Simon Ammeson lives on the lakeshore in Stevensville, Michigan, and is a James Beard Foundation judge and a Taste Awards judge. She is the author of 17 books, including Classic Restaurants of Michiana, America’s Femme Fatale: The Story of Serial Killer Belle Gunness and the award-winning Lincoln Road Trip: The Back-Roads Guide to America’s Favorite President. Follow Jane at janeammeson.com and instagram.com/janeammeson
