Reducing nitrogen runoff is very possible

An April article (“Iowa corn farmers need the nitrogen that's polluting Gulf”) adopted a resigned tone regarding the impacts of nitrogen runoff on Iowa waterways, the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. The story asserted that “most environmentalists and policymakers recognize” nitrogen reductions sufficient to alleviate Gulf hypoxia are “impossible.”

Not so. Iowa State University researchers and state agency officials have repeatedly proven that the possibility exists. ISU's Cedar River Watershed study, for example, considered practices such as controlling the rate and timing of nitrogen application, planting cover crops and using controlled drainage and strategically located nitrate-removal wetlands that together could result in a 35 percent nitrogen reduction.

ISU is completing a larger, statewide study of practices that reduce nitrogen runoff, including those above plus bioreactors and crop rotation systems.

Calling meaningful water quality improvements “impossible” is a disservice to Iowans, who value clean drinking water, recreation in lakes and rivers and habitat for wildlife. Achieving necessary reductions in nitrogen and phosphorous in Iowa's waterways and the Gulf will require commitment and leadership from everyone - especially farmers - but it can and must be done.

Susan Heathcote

Iowa Environmental Council

Des Moines