Commit to clean water

Iowans want clean water, but that has not motivated Iowa policymakers to tackle water pollution.

Rather, the driving fear is of stronger regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency because of the 'dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, which is toxic to life because of nitrogen and phosphorus, much of it from farm runoff. Iowa and Illinois are top culprits.

Iowa's current strategy will not achieve clean water goals in our lifetimes. The focus on better managing fertilizer does not go far enough.

The Gulf of Mexico is not the only water body with a 'dead zone.” Maryland depends on the Chesapeake Bay as a $1 trillion economic driver. Maryland has been fouling its own nest for decades.

Imagine the Gulf of Mexico in Iowa. No doubt dealing with our 489 impaired lakes and streams would become more urgent, undeserving of the 80 percent budget cut inflicted by Governor Branstad this year.

Maryland made clean water a public priority. A 2012 poll showed 91 percent of residents wanted cleaner water and nearly two-thirds supported increasing a statewide household tax to get it. Eighty percent wanted the state to be active in managing growth.

What lessons can be learned from the Chesapeake initiative? On a recent trip to Annapolis, here is what I learned:

' Maryland's challenges are similar to ours. With 17.5 million people and 77,000 farms, the largest estuary in North America has 3,600 species of fish, plants and wildlife. It is degraded by nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment from farm runoff, impervious surfaces in urban areas and loss of natural habitat from deforestation and sea-level rise.

' Maryland is working with five other states along with the District of Columbia, 1,800 local governments and the EPA. A 'pollution diet” has been set for the Chesapeake, limiting how many 'calories” each state can feed the ecosystem.

' The themes of their current partnership: clear goals, deadlines, measurement, transparency, accountability, science-based practices and dedicated funding; $191 million has come from Maryland's Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund, with $109 million in leveraged funds between 2009 and 2014;

' 890 projects have so far removed 2.2 million pounds of nitrogen, 243,522 pounds of phosphorus and 17,527 tons of solids; restored 1,180 acres of forest and 312 acres of wetlands; engaged 32,190 students; and employed 885 people. Better handling of stormwater is a major part of the strategy;

' 700,000 is dedicated to strategic monitoring and implementation tracking;

' Comprehensive data is collected and reported on nutrient management plans, best practices and farmers' use of public subsidies; a university report card scores the watershed's health in detail, using mutually-agreed indicators.

We can't copy and paste the Chesapeake model. But we can adapt the pieces that help us do more, do it better and do it faster than we are now, with no one getting a free pass.

My hosts in Maryland are willing to come to Iowa to tell their story. I will work with my colleagues in the Iowa Legislature and on the Watershed Planning Advisory Council to take them up on their offer.

' State Rep. Chuck Isenhart, D-Dubuque, is ranking member on the House Environmental Protection Committee and liaison to the state Watershed Planning Advisory Council. Comments: charles.isenhart@legis.iowa.gov