MADISON, Wis. — The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) is coordinating various activities in celebration of the International Year of Soil 2015 (IYS) to educate the public about the importance of soil, and April’s theme is “Soils Clean and Capture Water,” according to a press release.
SSSA is developing a set of 12 two-minute educational videos for each month of IYS, which can be viewed at www.soils.org/iys/monthy-videos, stated the release.
The video for April’s theme on water can be viewed at SSSA’s website and also on the society’s YouTube Channel. You can find that video here.
“Soil is a great water purifier,” said Gary Pierzynski, IYS monthly leader. “There are three ways that soil cleans water: Physical, chemical and biological.”
In the release, Pierzynski offered further insight into the physical, chemical and biological ways soil cleans water.
These facts, noted the release, include: Physical — the particles of soil act like a filter, and ideal soil has a distribution of pore sizes so it can filter water, while also permitting water to pass through the soil; chemical — with a negative charge for soil particles, positive ions, such as magnesium, calcium and potassium, can be removed from passing water and retained in the soil; biological — soil acts as the largest bioreactor on Earth, and bacteria and fungi transform and decompose certain chemicals and some organic pollutants within the soil.
You can find the release here.
