Lawmakers May Miss a Watershed Moment

It's not shaping up to be a watershed year at the Statehouse.

It's been about five weeks since Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, and fellow lawmakers introduced legislation that would pump $60 million annually over the next 10 years into watershed management and flood mitigation. He's hoping the measure will clear the Senate Natural Resources Committee this week.

But where it goes from there is uncertain. The process is long and momentum is lacking. Hogg is realistic enough to know that he's not going to get the $60 million he and other backers are seeking. It's also possible nothing will happen. Doing nothing to solve big problems is a proud legislative tradition.

Here in Cedar Rapids, as the campaign begins to pass a 20-year penny sales tax to pay, in part, for flood protection, there's a lot of talk about a “three-legged stool.” City leaders backing a system of levees and flood walls say we need state, federal and local funding legs to get the project on its feet. True enough.

But we also need a fourth leg - a serious, sustained state effort to mitigate and manage the rushing runoff that feeds flooding. Flood protection is important, but it's also much less effective without changes in the way we use and manage watersheds and flood plains.

Levees and flood walls can't protect every local community and neighborhood. And the risk that what we build now will someday be topped by an unthinkable deluge are only worsened by a lack of comprehensive watershed management.

“To me, it's not either or, it's both,” said Hogg, who is also part of a legislative working group exploring Cedar Rapids' request to spend state sales tax dollars on flood protection. Hogg also points out that although mitigation and management look expensive, they are cheaper, in the long run, than recovery.

And yet, the state is stuck in park, or reverse. Gov. Terry Branstad's budget shaves already scarce funding from some watershed and conservation efforts, while leaving others locked in status quo. Hogg says the governor's budget would, for example, eliminate the Watershed Improvement Review Board.

The governor's office says some funding was cut, and in other cases the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the Department of Natural Resources shifted some funding to "other priorities." But what's clear is watershed management didn't make the list of top administration priorities.

Hogg's proposal would spend $10 million annually on management and planning efforts, $20 million for city and county mitigation measures and $30 million for projects that hold back water, such as retention basins, wetland restoration and buffer strips.

That $600 million over 10 years would be a truly serious commitment, with positive impact on public safety and economic development across Iowa. But, unfortunately, I seriously doubt it's going to happen. Prove me wrong, lawmakers.

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