By Susan Stewart, Organic Certification and Sustainability Coordinator

We are lucky to live in a state where water is plentiful. Minnesota is home to the major water resources Lake Superior and the Mighty Mississippi, and to numerous wetlands, ponds, lakes, creeks, rivers and even waterfalls

Water is all around us and within us. You could say Minnesotans are one with water.

Luck brings responsibility. Minnesotans are responsible for taking care of both the water that is available for our own use and the water that flows downstream. To help protect that water, Minnesota signed on to the Council of Great Lakes Governors to forever protect the world's largest single source of fresh water, the Great Lakes.

I'd like to give you some information about our water resource to make it easy for you to recognize where water conservation makes sense in your life and so that you might adopt some enduring water conservation practices.

Water flows out of Minnesota in three directions; north to Hudson Bay, east to the Atlantic Ocean and south to the Gulf of Mexico. Only four of the 87 counties in Minnesota lack lakes. Over one-quarter of the length of the Mississippi is in Minnesota. Of the total 55.6 million acres within Minnesota's borders, 2.6 million acres are water; if you include wetlands, it is 13 million acres.

Groundwater is the water beneath the land surface that fills the spaces in rock and sediment. It supplies about 75 percent of Minnesota's drinking water and nearly 90 percent of the water used for farm irrigation. Minnesota is named after water; the Dakota translation is "sky-tinted water."

The United States as a whole receives an average of 30" of precipitation annually, which would cover the whole country to a uniform depth of 2.5 feet. Most of this water is returned to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration. The remaining water, called recharge, contributes to runoff and ground water storage and makes up water available for use, which is where Minnesota and Minnesotans play a role.

"Ground-water recharge" describes the addition of water to the ground-water system. Rainwater and snow-melt move rapidly to bodies of surface-water and maintain stream flow, lake levels and wetlands. Over the long term, recharge is balanced by discharge to surface waters, to plants and to deeper parts of the ground-water system. However, this balance can be altered locally as a result of pumping, impervious surfaces, land use, or climate changes that could result in increased or decreased recharge. Much more fresh water is stored in underground aquifers than on the earth's surface, and this supply is dependent on effective recharge.

When soil is compacted, recharge capacity is reduced because the soil cannot hold water efficiently. This can be a result of farming practices but also happens in our yards, as dense roots keep water from being drawn deeply into the soil. When heavy rain meets compact soil, it overwhelms surface recharge and holding capacity, and causes flooding. As water runs off the surface it collects in surface-water bodies which overflow their banks or cut new channels to handle the runoff. In farming areas, runoff contains both soil and farm chemicals.

A typical household of four uses 260 gallons of water each day. Much of this water is used in the bathroom. Toilets use 40% of the total, showers/baths and faucets use 35%. By contrast, 15% is used in the kitchen, and 10% for washing clothes. A typical flush uses 6 gals; the Wedge installed low-flow flush toilets which use 1.5 to 3 gals per flush. You can calculate your household water usage.

After water is used to drink, cook and clean, it goes to a waste water treatment plant or a private septic system where it is treated before returning to the natural environment. Water used on lawns or to wash cars often goes straight into storm sewers or runs into a wetland, lake or river. On its way, this water may pick up sediment, fertilizers, pesticides and harmful chemicals that end up in our groundwater. Soils and wetlands are natural filters for surface runoff and help reduce sediment and other contributions to surface runoff. Rain gardens also hold and filter runoff.

The available growing space at the Wedge is limited, but we have a professional Groundskeeper. Nathan has been busy reclaiming our growing space. His work is making our gardens more efficient at holding water, and is adding more native prairie plants and perennials that require less watering.

We all can find some way to conserve water in our daily activities, without overflowing our capacity to modify our behavior. I don't mean to flood you with too much information, but the more we pool our knowledge, the more likely we are to find water conservation practices we are willing to immerse ourselves in.

Here are some ways to reduce water use:

• Put rain barrels in your yard, that can hold enough to water lawns and gardens.
• Increase the organic matter in your yard and garden soil. Each 1% of increased organic matter increases the water absorption capacity by 16,000 gallons of water per acre, down to one foot deep.
• Wash vegetables in a bowl and then water indoor plants with that bowl of water.
• Turn the faucet on, wet your hands, turn the faucet off, then soap up your hands and turn the faucet on to rinse. It will save half the water.
• It takes about 2 gallons of water to brush your teeth with the water running but only one pint without the water running.
• Buying organic products is also a great way to support soil-building practices and to reduce persistent farm chemicals that end up in our water.

There are many great resources on water conservation, which are included on our ever-expanding resource page, with many suggestions and ideas for ways to conserve and protect our water resource.

If you are so inclined, I'd love to hear about your water conservation efforts and your suggestions for water conservation at the Wedge. Just go to contact us and choose "Sustainability" on the Select A Category menu.