Water Matters, a public forum addressing Iowa’s water quality issues, is scheduled for Tuesday, August 4, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the ISU Northern Research Farm, 310 South Main St., in Kanawha. This forum is one of the Rural Revival: Local Voices, Common Goals public forums, a series of forums created to explore key issues central to our communities’ futures. This forum is being hosted by the Hancock & Winnebago County members of the North Iowa County to County Collaboration.

The Water Matters forum will provide a chance for the community to come together to learn, to engage with experts in the field, and to explore what action all of us can take to make a difference on this critical issue.

Larry Weber, Director of the Iowa Flood Center, will be the keynote speaker. He will provide an overview of Iowa’s water quality issues and will present locally relevant data. A panel of speakers will then bring in perspectives from the field, providing various proposals and approaches to improve Iowa’s water, including both individual and collective options for taking action.

Panelists will include Zack Smith, a Buffalo Center farmer; Mark Kingland, a Lake Mills farmer; Adam Shriver, co-author of the “Environmental Risk Factors and Iowa’s Cancer Crisis” report; John Norris, of Drake University’s Harkin Institute; Josh Balk, Urban Conservationist with the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship; Morgan Bradley, with the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement’s Healthy Water, Healthy Iowa campaign; and Chris Heyer, County Sanitarian for Hancock & Winnebago Counties.

Jan Libbey, a rural Kanawha member of the planning team states, “We take this topic seriously, but also want to encourage fun in our learning. We’re pleased to include some fun music and light refreshments…So, we couldn’t pass up including watermelon!”

Doors will open at 6 p.m. The event will be free and open to the public.

A note about civility: All Rural Revival forums are to be a safe place for community conversation. Organizers ask all participants to come mindful that our communities include diverse perspectives.

For more information, contact Dawn Bassett, (641) 843-8123