Big changes could be on the way for Carter Lake, Iowa. The unique Iowa town’s located on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River, a situation blamed on historic changes in the river’s path. City Councilman Steve Wilber says they are looking at ways to clean up the lake itself, which has no natural sources flowing into it.
The only water going into it is runoff, much of that from city streets. Wilber says that naturally includes a lot of pollution like oil. Wilber says there are ways they can collect and filter that water before it goes into the lake. Wilber says the runoff should be directed to flow into a "rain garden." That will actually filter out a lot of the chemicals and pollutants out of the water, which he says will soak into the water table and then "come up into the lake, through the ground."
Wilber says the community’s improving in quality and instead of primarily cabins surrounding the lake, there are now huge homes on the shoreline and property values are going up. Wilber says some developments in Carter Lake improved the shoreline property, and raised property values by about 50-million dollars. Wilber says the area needs to make a good impression, as it’s the first thing people see when they fly into the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metro area.