Iowa can no longer rely on voluntary measures for water quality

Please email or call Sen. Dan Zumbach and members of the Iowa Senate Natural Resources Committee in support of SF 2198, which addresses Iowa’s dismal water quality with legislation similar to our Minnesota neighbors.

Multiple polls show Iowans want better water quality, an impossibility without addressing a significant pollution source; agricultural production. Modern farms are simply factories without walls which excel at production, like any well-run factory. Open a conventional manufacturing plant in Iowa and discharge untreated waste into Iowa waterways, or forgo a proper septic system in rural areas, you will be in court. Not in agriculture unless a major manure spill and fish kill occurs. Fertilizer, herbicide and insecticide runoff costs are socialized through the millions of dollars Iowa municipalities and citizens with private wells spend annually to address removing nitrates and other pollutants.

Ag pollution is largely exempt from the Clean Water Act of 1972 for being “non-point” so in large part any pollution mitigation is voluntary. The Iowa “Nutrient Reduction Strategy” relies on farmers to voluntarily absorb expense and effort through a variety of proven mitigation methods such as cover-crops, bioreactors and strategic wetlands. With no timeline or enforceable metrics, many environmental groups predict clean water will never happen.

Hurrah for those farmers seriously trying to eliminate their “factory’s” pollution at personal expense and effort. But it is well past time for Iowa to stop relying on the good will of farmers, 5% of Iowa’s population, to determine if we have clean, swimmable, fishable, drinkable waters.

Kevin Woods

Mount Vernon