Good news, but big challenges remain

On the surface, it's been a glass half-full week for water quality.

Gov. Terry Branstad's 2016 budget spends $31.6 million for assorted water conservation programs, including a $5 million boost for efforts to reduce fertilizer runoff under the state's Nutrient Management Strategy and capping ag drainage wells.

Also this week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a pair of water quality grants for Iowa, one $3.1 million package for the state tied to its nutrient management effort and $2 million for the city of Cedar Rapids to help it form partnerships on runoff-reducing projects within the Cedar River watershed. That's great news.

And yet, below the surface, the glass remains far too empty.

Branstad's budget, while welcome, still spends less than what state lawmakers approved last year before the governor used his veto pen to strike $11.2 million from water quality efforts. And the extra $5 million he budgets in 2016 isn't contained in his 2017 budget plan, although his staff says he is 'hopeful” that it can be included.

And as welcome as USDA grants are, they are one-time shots of money seeking to address an ongoing problem.

The reality is Iowa's effort to reduce fertilizer runoff by 45 percent, improving Iowa's waterways and shrinking the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, will cost billions of dollars over many years. Large investments are needed in education, for matching funds to encourage farmers to adopt smart farming practices and to implement other needed projects.

Interconnected issues surrounding runoff, soil erosion and Iowa's hundreds of impaired waterways are every bit as important as fixing the state's highways, improving education and reforming taxes. The stakes are enormously high for agriculture, economic development, outdoor recreation, tourism and Iowans' health.

But unlike those other issues, clean water is addressed with tiny budgetary fractions, one-time investments, grand pronouncements, photo-ops and high hopes. We have an ambitious, but voluntary, nutrient reduction plan and precious few dollars to make it work. Frustrated Des Moines Water Works officials have filed a lawsuit against upstream counties hoping to jolt the state into action.

The fact is, the bill will come due. Iowans will continue to pay the price in myriad ways. And without progress, a far more heavy-handed federal intervention remains a distinct possibility.

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