Iowa water quality bill called ‘skeleton’ for collaborative solutions

DES MOINES - A skeleton of a state water- quality plan that Iowans can 'build on with the tendons and the muscles and the organs and skin and everything else” won bipartisan approval from the House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday.

That was the goal of Rep. Chip Baltimore, R-Boone, when he asked the House Agriculture Committee for approval of House Study Bill.

Because water quality is important to Iowans, he said the bill was an attempt to 'change the way we talk about water quality … and to try to get people to work together.”

'We spend a lot of time, especially in water quality, pointing the finger at each other - Who's to blame? Whose problem it is? Who's going to pay for it?” he said.

'It's time that we start to change that conversation to say that water is important to all of us. We need to work together to make sure that we identify what our problems are, come up with solutions and work together.”

The bill would levy a 6-cent excise tax on the sale of water. Five cents would go into a revolving loan fund administered by the Iowa Finance Authority to support collaborative efforts by cities, counties, regional watersheds, farmers, industries and individuals.

The IFA would use its bonding capacity to help those entities to borrow money at low rates.

The other penny would be used for grants to improve water and wastewater systems.

House Study Bill 135 calls for a $232 million appropriation over 13 years from the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund to be administered by the Soil Conservation and Water Quality Division of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

The appropriations will grow from $5 million the first year to $22 million a year after 2020.

The bill passed 18-5 in committee, with one Republican and four Democrats opposed.