Mandate water rules for farmers

We have a clean water crisis in Iowa that is caused by runoff from Iowa farms.

While cities and industry are required to treat their wastewater, farmers are not required to reduce the level of nitrogen and other chemicals that flow into the sources of our municipal water supplies.

Neither are they required to treat manure from factory farms that flows into our waterways from spills.

Thus our lakes and rivers and streams remain among the most polluted in the country and municipalities must spend increasing amounts of money to provide safe drinking water to their citizens.

Voluntary measures for farmers to reduce runoff and spills have not worked as the runoff continues unabated.

Programs for farmers to limit runoff must be mandated just as cities are mandated to treat their wastewater.

We stop for stop signs because it's mandated, not because it's voluntary.

Darrel Wrider

Cedar Rapids