We are increasingly facing a water quality crisis in Iowa.  Over 500 of Iowa's rivers, lakes and streams are considered polluted. Over 53% of them are rated as “poor” by the Iowa DNR and the EPA.  Soil is the #1 pollutant and Iowa farms are losing, on average, 5 tons of soil per acre every year.

If we don't invest significant resources in VOLUNTARY conservation incentives we'll see increasing calls for “one size fits all” regulations…it's time for Iowa to step up to the plate and protect funding for water quality, soil conservation, and wetlands restoration to help prevent future flooding.

The Iowa Environmental Council hosted their annual conference in Des Moines today and Iowa's Water & Land Legacy had an opportunity to speak to the group.  After I got back to the office I stumbled upon an article in the Columbus Dispatch describing water quality issues along the Rappahannock River which feeds the Chesapeake Bay.  Click through to read part of the article and learn a bit more….

Farmers, business people, environmentalists, and many others have come together to pass Iowa's Water & Land Legacy amendment, Question #1 on this years ballot, to address the very issues raised by this article, and many others here in Iowa.

We can do something, by voting YES, to help prevent the problems they are seeing out East.

From the Dispatch:

The Rappahannock is one of more than 150 streams and rivers that flow to the Chesapeake, the nation's largest estuary. The bay is home to more than 2,700 species of plants and 900 fish and animal species, and it provides about 500 million pounds of oysters, blue crabs and other seafood each year.

   The bay draws from rainwater that falls on a 64,300-square-mile drainage area across sections of six states and the District of Columbia.

   In 1997, an algae called pfiesteria choked the bay on Maryland's lower eastern shore and killed an estimated 50,000 fish. The algae also were blamed for lesions that appeared on fish in the Rappahannock that same summer.

   Thousands of farms were blamed for the phosphorus and nitrogen that fueled those blooms, along with pollutants from sewage-treatment plants and businesses. After years of work and reductions, farms remain the No. 1 source of bay pollution.

   The government efforts in the bay watershed are a mix of state-imposed mandates and voluntary programs that offer cash incentives to farmers. Federal officials, for example, are spending more than $700 million on programs intended to curb farm pollutants.

   Though they have cut farm pollution, the reductions are not enough to significantly improve water quality and wildlife habitat.

   Mundie received $5,625 in state and federal funding to help him buy the well equipment, pipes and basins. He said he used his own money to install electrified fences that keep his 25 brood cows out of the creek. He maintains the grass buffer along the banks of the Rappahannock on his own, although there is a government program that would pay him to do that, too.

   “It's getting better, but it certainly remains challenging,” said Peter Tango, a hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, which runs a network of water-pollution monitors throughout the bay.

   Environmental advocates say they expect that more will be done in coming years to push farmers to cut more runoff from their fields.

   “The (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) has begun looking at farms,” said   Beth McGee, senior scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation of Annapolis, Md. “They're doing farm inspections and pointing out where they are not in compliance with state laws.”

   The Chesapeake isn't the only place where government officials want to cut farm pollution. The state of Florida has spent about $2 billion over the past 10 years on projects to keep farm pollution from Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades. The lake and swamp are part of one of the world's largest wetlands and home to several unique species of plants and animals.

   This year, Wisconsin officials tightened runoff restrictions for that state's farms.

 

We are at a critical moment.  We can no longer settle for less regulation without dedicating significant resources to improving water quality, conserving agricultural soils and protecting our resources for future generations.  The fear is that if Iowa doesn’t commit to improving water quality and reducing soil erosion via voluntary programs, like Iowa’s Water & Land Legacy, we may face harsh regulations in the near future.

Government is not always the answer, but this is a historic opportunity to inject local input, with accountability measures built in, to make sure the legislature is spending resources on what we intend them to – water quality, soil conservation, and helping prevent future flooding.