Iowa water quality is becoming an increasing concern for Iowans, affecting their lives, their health, their recreation and their food. This quality-of-life issue also affects those not necessarily present in Iowa – a factor in many young people’s decision to move away from Iowa has to do with the outdoor recreational activities, or lack thereof when every year several beaches are closed, dead fish in polluted streams, etc. In this episode Chris Jones (former University of Iowa research engineer with IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering) to discuss the status of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy – why it was started, who is monitoring and how is it going so far.
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The Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy is a science and technology-based framework to assess and reduce nutrients to Iowa waters and the Gulf of America. It is designed to direct efforts to reduce nutrients in surface water from both point and nonpoint sources in a scientific, reasonable and cost-effective manner. One goal, for example, is a 45% reduction of nitrogen and phosphorus load to Iowa’s streams.
However, reporting on how this strategy is working has been inconsistent, at best. Timelines and deadlines have been missed over the last decade, and there has been very minimal reduction in nitrogen and phosphorus, with nitrogen actually increasing as the application rates on farms has gone up and up over the year with nearly 80% of Iowa’s land in production.
What can we do to solve these issues? Diversification of crops (oats, alfalfa, etc.) would go a long way; unfortunately, the desire for corn and soybeans in Iowa far outweighs the need for these alternative crops. Leadership is lacking in terms of in terms of regulation, with neither political party wanting to face these issues. Manure management with CAFOs in Iowa is also a problem – Iowa currently has over 4,000 operations in the state but does not have the resources to properly review and monitor these operations.
With the upcoming elections, Iowans must make water quality a priority in how they vote about these issues. The poor infrastructure around water quality must be addressed.
Thank you to guest host Mark Gannon for this IowaPodcast.com exclusive. Guest host opinions do not necessarily represent the opinions of IowaPodcast.com, our hosts, or sponsors.