Soil will hold an additional 20,000 gallons of water per acre with an additional 1% organic matter

One of my chores, in my teens, was to go over to the back forty and pump water from a well into a large round tank for our cows.  We put the cows there once a year when our other pastures were in need of a rest to regrow grass.  I still remember the first week and how the

water would smell like sulfur which is not an uncommon ingredient in our farmlands.  But, after the first week, that was the best tasting water I have ever had.  I can still remember it.

The well tapped into a spring down near a creek.  I remember plowing the land on the hill above the spring.  We would plant yellow sweet clover in our oats or wheat and by spring of the following year, the clover would be almost three feet tall.  we didn’t know it at the time, but we were using it as a cover crop. In the spring we would “plow down” the green manure crop and it would provide nitrogen for our corn crop.  What I remember the most was how the soil looked.  In that part of MO, we had good black topsoil.  One time I dug down over 3 foot before reaching clay.  But as I turned the soil over while plowing, I can remember seeing partly decayed humus from years past.  It was from this soil that the spring flowed.  The taste of water comes from the minerals in the soil and soil that has had cover crops have more microorganisms that interact with minerals mixing with the water.

If the top foot of soil has a one percent humus content which I am sure our soil at that time had, then the actual figure of water that can be absorbed in the top foot of soil is: 

 21,668 gallons of water.  from the The Natural Resources Defense Council. 

Our family of five went for years using water from a cistern (water from our roof ran into a large storage tank below the house, a normal system in rural areas). We had a hand pump in our kitchen which went down into the cistern. The pump was a shortened version of what I am sure many of you have seen over a well in the country. We had a drilled well near the barn which had water clean enough to drink and from it, we carried our water for cooking and drinking.  The cistern water was used for cleaning, washing dishes, and baths.  We rationed this water as many times rain did not keep it filled.  On occasion, we would have a truck bring out water from town to fill it up during dry spells.  When we tapped into the spring on the back forty when I was 15, we experienced running water for the first time.

As I turn the tap in my town for water, I seldom think of where it comes from.  Then I think of a city the size of New York City. How much water would they need and where does it come from?  My research showed me that they use over a billion gallons per day. That billion plus gallons provides NYC as well as ½ of the population of the New York State.  In addition, the water they use is the largest unfiltered water supply in the U.S. A total of nine million customers depend on this water.  Some say it is the best-tasting water in the U.S.

Most of the water comes from snow and rain that comes from a watershed area in Northeastern New York State.  In the late 1990s (January 1997), they formed a partnership to safeguard their water supply.  By safeguarding their source of water, they were able to bypass the cost of filtration of their water.  It would have cost them over eight billion dollars to build and over a million per day to operate a filtration system. Their system means that a lot of the Northeaster part of the state has procedures in place to protect the water supply.  In their watershed, they make sure that there are no discharges either from industry, agriculture and/ or municipalities that would defoul their water supply.  In addition, the areas near streams must be developed so that erosion will not occur.  In the process, they developed 19 reservoirs and along with the other natural areas, most are open for recreational opportunities.

Around the world, this process has been repeated:

“ How Watershed Payments Save Cities, Support Farms And Combat Climate Change...200 cities in 29 countries have taken a more cost-effective approach.  Instead of building filtration plants to counteract the effects of a degraded countryside, they've invested in healthy hills and forests,  Forbes

Compare this to Iowa.  The lake that Des Moines draw water from is often too polluted to use. The rivers that flow across Iowa and into the lake have had problems for years. At one time, the Des Moines river was so polluted it could not be made clean enough to drink. And according to the Iowa Capital Dispatch  :

 

“The treated drinking water of a northeast Iowa city had nearly 3,000 times the safe amount of a toxic, man-made chemical that persists indefinitely in the environment when it was tested in February, according to new federal advisories announced Wednesday.”

 

They know what the problem is and have been addressing it for several years.  But, the forces that profit from raising confinement hogs, the accumulation of discharge of hog waste combined with the excess nitrogen applied to corn as well as the usage of toxic chemicals will not allow their water problems to be solved.

“Iowa is faced with myriad water quality issues, including sedimentation as a result of soil erosion, excessive nutrient loads from chemical fertilizers, and dangerously high fecal bacteria levels. Iowa’s poor water quality can lead to harmful algae blooms, fish kills, and human health problems from recreating in and drinking polluted water.

Many of Iowa’s water quality problems can be traced to poor soil health, excessive application of agricultural chemicals, and manure spills and leaks from commercial animal feedlots...Iowa has one of the most altered landscapes in the world. Wetlands have been drained, streams have been straightened and diverted, streamside habitats have been shrunk or altered, and more than 99.9% of Iowa’s native prairies have been plowed under to make more space on the landscape for productive farms. Without these natural habitats to slow down and filter water and retain healthy topsoil, pollutants from the land can readily find their way into Iowa’s lakes and rivers. Additionally, the loss of habitat has created profound negative impacts on native wildlife populations, both on the land and in the water.”  from  Water Quality in Iowa - Izaak Walton League

A lot of our water pollution comes from Glyphosate which is the main herbicide in Roundup.  There are a number of states that have a partial ban in the U.S. The UK and much of Europe ban the use of Roundup.  Some 60 nations now ban Roundup.

“An insecticide used in genetically modified (GM) crops grown extensively in the United States and other parts of the world has leached into the water of the surrounding environment...

Scientists have detected the insecticide in a significant number of streams draining the great corn belt of the American mid-West.

The researchers detected the bacterial protein in the plant detritus that was washed off the corn fields into streams up to 500 metres away..."Our research adds to the growing body of evidence that corn crop byproducts can be dispersed throughout a stream network, and that the compounds associated with genetically modified crops, such as insecticidal proteins, can enter nearby water bodies," said Emma Rosi-Marshall of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York.”   from the Independent in the UK

Even back when I was at home on the farm in the 1950s, we had concern over our well near the barn where we got our drinking water.  Evidently, there were already reports of excessive nitrates in farm wells.  Our hog lot was not only near the well, but on a slight incline above the well.  Now.. lots of farm wells are polluted with chemicals and nitrates that leached into the ground. We must wonder about the purity of the underground Aquifers in the Central plains and Calif as well as other areas. In addition, there have been instances where the “forever chemicals”  have been mixed with sludge and spread on farmland.  Even now, we have warnings that rainwater over the world is not safe because of the presence of these “forever chemicals” .

“WASHINGTON – Millions of Americans are unwittingly drinking water that includes an invisible toxic cocktail made up of contaminants linked to cancer, brain damage and other serious health harms, the 2021 update to the Environmental Working Group’s nationwide Tap Water Database reveals.

The one-of-a-kind comprehensive consumer tool uncovers widespread contamination from toxic substances such as arsenic, lead and the “forever chemicals” known as PFAS in the drinking water of tens of millions of households in all 50 states and the District of Columbia...“The Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water has demonstrated for decades that it is utterly incapable of standing up to pressure from water utilities and polluters to protect human health from the dozens of toxic contaminants in America’s drinking water,”   EWG.org

We don’t know for sure the long-term results of this toxic chemical exposure.  I think of the fact that I was over 50 when these chemicals started to be used and in the last thirty years since then, the use has increased on a yearly basis.  This does not take into consideration that we have an accumulation in our soils, water and even air as well as in the fat cells of our body.  Then I think of my last great granddaughter born in the last year.  Her exposure began from her mother while still in the womb. As a growing child, she will be more susceptible to accumulating and reacting to the effects of the chemicals.

“The main neurodevelopmental effects observed in children and adolescents exposed to OP pesticides were classified in five categories: (1) Cognitive, which includes IQ, mental and psychological development, memory, language and reasoning; (2) Behavioral, which includes attention function problems, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), adaptive behavior, pervasive development disorder, inhibitory control and social development; (3) Sensory, which includes auditory and visual stimulation; (4) Motor, which includes motor skills; and (5) Morphology, which includes physical changes measured in the brain.”   www.ncbi.nim.nih.gov

I can’t write an article that is all doom and gloom without positive suggestions. For one thing, studies have shown that eating organic food (this would include pasture-raised food) will in less than a week, drastically reduce toxic chemicals in our bodies.  One test showed this to work in school children in just 5 days.  In addition, one Australian year-long study on a large number of firefighters, found that giving blood or plasma on a regular basis greatly reduced the presence of “forever chemicals” . In addition to this, if we can get our farmers to practice regenerative farming practices, most of the dangers pointed to in this article will almost disappear.  In addition, through cover cropping, carbon will be sequestered into our soil instead of being released into the atmosphere. Climate change will be impacted and we will have the opportunity to live healthier lives.

One last thought on water:

• ... Chemical exposure through drinking water can lead to a variety of short- and long-term health effects. Exposure to high doses of chemicals can lead to skin discoloration or more severe problems such as nervous system or organ damage and developmental or reproductive effects. Exposure to lower doses over long periods of time can lead to chronic, longer-term conditions such as cancer. The effects of some drinking water contaminants are not yet well understood.  EPA

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Comments

[AP]

EDF link only goes to homepage. Please update. Need more info! Thx.

[AP]

Sorry, NRDC link (not EDF)

[AP]

Found it. https://www.nrdc.org/experts/lara-bryant/organic-matter-can-improve-your-soils-water-holding-capacity