Voluntary efforts aren’t enough to shrink the dead zone

An expanse of oxygen depleted water in the Gulf of Mexico will be larger than normal this year, offering the latest evidence that voluntary efforts to clean up water in Iowa and other midwestern states are not working.

The Gulf Hypoxia Zone in the northern gulf, known more commonly as the dead zone, is the result of massive algae blooms fed by nutrients from upstream, including fertilizer used to grow crops. The blooms lead to a severe depletion of oxygen needed to sustain aquatic life. Some sea life dies while others relocate from the zone.

Experts expect it will be bigger this year, stretching 5,827 square miles. That’s roughly the size of Connecticut and equal to one-tenth of Iowa’s land area, or about 10 medium sized counties.

The Gulf Hypoxia Task Force, of which Iowa is a member, set a goal to cut the dead zone to 1,900 square miles by 2035. The task force has encouraged farmers and landowners to voluntarily act to reduce fertilizer levels in Iowa water ways. Too few have taken part to make meaningful progress.

In May, according to calculations by former University of Iowa water quality researcher Chris Jones, Iowa put 220 million pounds of nitrate into waterways. In an average 12-month period, the state’s nitrate load is roughly 660 million pounds.

The federal government has invested $14.2 billion to encourage voluntary conservation measures in 12 agricultural states. But at the same time, farmers and landowners added tile drainage to 531 million acres in 2022 alone. Sales of synthetic fertilizers in Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota increased by more than 10 percent from 2016 to 2002. And the number of hogs being raised, another source of fertilizer, jumped from 66 million in 2012 to 73. 8 million in 2022.

And this is by no means a problem only affecting gulf shrimpers.

Iowa’s waterways are being fouled as well, leading to algae blooms here that close beaches and prompt swimming warnings, while spawning toxins dangerous form people and pets.

Testing of rural water wells has revealed high nitrate levels that could be a threat to human health. In Des Moines, which uses surface water from the Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers for drinking water, its waterworks spends millions of dollars to remove nitrates.

Sadly, we also have a dead zone of political leadership at the Statehouse. Few are willing to stand up to the agricultural interests that profit from the status quo. Gov. Kim Reynolds is their staunch ally, along with the Republican-controlled Legislature. The regulatory structure assigned to protect the environment is controlled by appointees with strong ties to agriculture.

We keep hearing Iowans don’t care about this issue. But we believe a growing number of Iowans are outraged as they watch our natural resources polluted and pilfered for profit. Elected officials in both major parties will ignore these Iowans at their political peril.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com