June 15, 2016 – Cities face challenges with stormwater, because the asphalt and concrete don’t absorb the water like the soils found in rural areas. But, the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) June 15 Soils Matter blog post explains that there are many things urban homeowners can do to help keep water out of stormwater systems. Homeowners can enhance soils’ natural ability to clean and capture water.

One tool is to create a raingarden, according to soil scientist and blogger Mary Tiedeman. In addition, “Simple soil management within your yard can also make a big difference, especially if you focus on preventing and reducing soil compaction,” says Tiedeman. “Like a sponge, soil contains many pores.  Compaction is the act of squeezing the soil together, which reduces the size and distribution of pores.”

Keys to preventing soil compaction include limiting where you walk, managing the soil organic matter, and making sure soil is covered with plants or mulch.

To read the entire blog post, visit http://soilsmatter.wordpress.com.

Follow SSSA on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SSSA.soils, Twitter at SSSA_Soils. SSSA has soils information on www.soils.org/discover-soils, for teachers at www.soils4teachers.org, and for students through 12^th grade, www.soils4kids.org.