April: Soils Clean and Capture Water.

The International Year of Soils (IYS) theme for April was “Soils Clean and Capture Water”.  There are three primary ways that soil performs these functions:  1) Physical, where the particles of soil act like a filter and remove sediment and other large particles from water as it passes through the soil; 2) Chemical, where chemical processes such as electrostatic attraction and the formation of chemical bonds allow the soil to retain dissolved constituents in water; and 3) Biological, where the soil earns the reputation as the largest bioreactor on the planet by facilitating the transformation and decomposition of organic compounds.  Retention and purification of water is one of many essential ecosystem services performed by the soil resource.  These concepts were disseminated in a variety of ways.  In addition to the SSSA sponsored IYS monthly video and associated press release, four new activities, two blog posts, and one trade magazine article were produced.  Further, seventeen existing activities were identified and posted on the SSSA IYS web site. The new activities addressed how soil pore size affects water infiltration, reuse of degraded water, and the influence of impermeable surfaces in a watershed on surface runoff volume.  Blog posts addressed the use of retention basins and rain gardens in storm water management, and defining green water and blue water.