Farmers seek ‘quantum leap’ in reducing nitrogen pollution

AMES - Farmers are at a fork in the road to substantially less nutrient pollution in surface waters, a speaker at the Iowa Soybean Association's annual research conference says.

'On one path lies regulation and litigation. On the other lies the flexibility of voluntary efforts,” said Sean McMahon, executive director of the Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance.

Speaking Thursday, McMahon said pressure on and criticism of farmers to make progress on water quality continues to grow, heightened recently by the Des Moines Water Works' announced intention to sue three Northern Iowa counties it considers responsible for high levels of nitrate in the Raccoon River.

'The stage is set for defining the next generation of progress under the Clean Water Act,” said Roger Wolf, the Soybean Association's director of environmental programs.

His colleague, environmental scientist Chris Jones, citing steady but unspectacular progress, said, 'We need to figure out how to make a quantum leap to improve our streams.”

'The best way to stave off regulation,” McMahon said, 'is to show progress at the watershed level.”

The cost of removing nitrate at the farm level ranges from about $1.50 to $5 a pound, while the comparable cost at a water treatment plant ranges from $15 to $50 a pound, said Patricia Sinicropi, director of legislative affairs for the National Association of Clean Water Agencies.

Sinicropi advised municipalities and farm groups to work together.

Cedar Rapids is doing just that, said Steve Hershner, the city's utilities director. The city's approximately 50 alluvial wells are directly recharged by the Cedar River, whose upstream nitrate concentrations have been increasing, according to Hershner.

To help lower those levels, which currently do not require treatment to meet safe drinking standards, Hershner said the city and the Iowa Soybean Association have, along with 14 other entities, formed the Middle Cedar Partnership Project to encourage conservation practices.

Hershner said $4.3 million will be available over the next five years to help pay for conservation measures in five subwatersheds between Vinton and Waterloo.

Though Cedar Rapids does not envision the need to denitrify its drinking water, Hershner said the city is planning to spend at least $20 million to install a system for removing much of the nitrogen and phosphorus from the wastewater it discharges into the Cedar River.

A rate increase is projected for all customers to help fund the project, which is slated to begin in 2020, he said.