Earlier this month the US Geological Survey released an updated version of the water cycle to reflect the impact humans have on our water. This update comes to the now-renamed Natural Water Cycle released in 2000 depicting the water cycle under natural conditions and without human influences.
Human water use has and continues to affect where water is stored and how water moves. Not to mention the impact on water quality. Across all landscapes – urban and rural – fertilizers, pesticides, soil and more are transported into rivers and groundwater. Power plants and factories return heated and contaminated water to rivers. The transport of these pollutants can lead to harmful algal blooms, unsafe drinking water, and cause habitat degredation for wildlife.
Cover crops are a tool for the farmer and gardener alike to help reduce the transport of nutrients and soil downstream and slow the flow of the water, offering time for increased infiltration. To learn more about cover crops check out our website and download the FREE, and newly updated, Whole Farm Conservation Best Practices Manual.
Iowa Learning Farms 
Reblogged this on Calculus of Decay .