The City of Kalona has begun water testing as part of the English River Watershed and Clear Creek Watershed projects.

City Administrator and English River Watershed Chair Ryan Schlabaugh talks about the project, “The City of Kalona was awarded $100,000 in planning funds through the HUD grant, which is a federally funded grant, to which the state of Iowa received roughly $96 million. We’ll help administer and implement about $5.5 million dollars worth of projects in Iowa County and Poweshiek County.” With the grant money, the City of Kalona has hired two part-time interns for the English River Watershed. Interns Adam Scott and Daniel Elder are assisting with water sampling, geographic information system (GIS) mapping, and outreach on the rivershed, which includes portions of Washington County.

Kalona is performing water quality testing at 20 locations, and Schlabaugh says the first water sampling was taken on Wednesday. A hygienics lab will then do several tests on the water quality. These samplings will occur for the next 18 months. The City of Kalona is assisting in the planning stage of water sampling with the Clear Creek River Watershed, as part of the Iowa Watersheds Project’s effort to reduce flooding and improve water quality.