Please Explain the Spillway
Please Explain the Spillway
Please Explain the Spillway, a tiny print by Jennifer Drinkwater.
Please Explain the Spillway is printed on high-quality Hahnemuhle photo rag paper measuring 4 x 4 inches that includes a 1-inch white border with a hand-torn deckled edge.
Free Shipping to all US collectors.
Please note: tiny print does not come matted or framed.
Twenty percent of sale supports the Rathbun Land & Water Alliance, an organization striving to “foster a voluntary approach driven by landowners, water users, and public and private organizations to protect and enhance land, water, and economic resources in the Rathbun region.”
The conservation that inspired Please Explain the Spillway…
My husband Aaron agreed to be my first conversation for the What’s Good Project. His task was to take me to a place that lights him up somewhere near where we live. So on Thanksgiving, Aaron drove me to Prairie Ridge campground at Rathbun Lake in southern Iowa.
Rathbun Lake, one of the largest man-made lakes in Iowa, was dedicated in 1971 with none other than President Richard Nixon as the keynote speaker. Located in Appanoose County, a historically coal-mining region of the state, Rathbun Lake provides drinking water for 80,000 people in south central Iowa and northern Missouri.
“Where are we?”
“We’re at the Emergency Spillway at Island View, close to Rathbun Lake Dedication site.”
“Would you please explain why the spillway is important?”
“If the amount of water coming into Rathbun Lake is more than what can be controllably released at the outlet, this area will begin to fill and outflow so that the dam will not be overtopped and local communities won’t be destroyed.”
This gorgeous bit of land is a natural insurance policy for the Rathbun region, an uncontrolled area supporting micro-habitats and prairie grasses.