City of Readlyn Success Story

The City of Readlyn worked with neighboring farmers to construct a stormwater wetland on the southwest edge of town. The wetland project is funded through the Water Quality Initiative and State Revolving Fund Sponsored Project, and captures and treats runoff from two-thirds of the city’s stormwater drains.

Engineering firm Shrive-Hattery, who has worked on many stormwater management projects throughout Iowa, helped bring the wetland to life.

Readlyn’s wetland features a forebay. Shrive-Hattery engineer Luke Monat explained that “the wetland was intentionally designed in a way that makes it easy for the community to maintain and clean it, which will maximize the life of the wetland itself.”

The money saved on maintenance will be used to develop a high-quality vegetative community surrounding the wetland, according to Monat.

This is one of many urban conservation projects that are directly connected to rural Iowa.

”There are adjacent agricultural grounds we didn’t want to interfere with,” said Monat. “We are working with adjacent landowners and the Bremer County NRCS to ensure all residents of Readlyn will benefit from this project.”

The USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service was an integral part of the conservation planning process with the adjoining landowners.

“The landowners were really great to work with,” said Chad Gilles, NRCS Resource Conservationist. “We were meeting with them initially because they were concerned about the water coming from the City onto their property. The adjoining landowners were onboard with the wetland project because it will benefit them in the future by controlling runoff.”

City employees and residents alike consider the project a success and decided to construct another conservation practice adjacent to the wetland.