OTTUMWA, IA -- An Ottumwa garden project aims to keep water runoff in the soil and out of the creek.    

Water runoff from cities can wreak havoc on sewer systems and water supplies, and to help this, the city is building a garden near the Bethany Baptist church to absorb water runoff from the city.

Kettle Creek Watershed Coordinator Jeniffer Steffen said the garden will use prairie flowers and other native plants to absorb water and prevent chemicals, sediment and sand from running into the sewer and creek.

“It's going to be scooped like a really shallow pond.  It's going to be lined with hardwood mulch and we're going to plant it with native grasses and plants, mostly prairie flower plants,” said Steffen.

Steffen added that the runoff is caused by a lack of vegetation and a surplus of concrete in the city.  Concrete does not absorb or stop the flow of water, so anything that is washed away in the rain is carried into the surrounding creeks and sewers.

Wildwood Elementary will come out this week to help plant the flowers as the project is completed.