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Protect Iowa’s lakes and beaches
Staff Editorial
Oct. 7, 2022 11:29 am
More red flags about Iowa’s poor water quality have been raised, thanks to the reporting of The Gazette’s Brittany J. Miller and Erin Jordan and Investigate Midwest’s Monica Cordero. Their collaboration in analyzing two decades of beach monitoring data in Iowa shows the state is making little progress using voluntary measures to protect lakes from contamination.
Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy, created in 2013, was supposed to cut nitrogen and phosphorus running off into Iowa’s waterways from farming operations by 45 percent. Its science and the measures it prescribes to curtail pollutants are sound. But no landowner in Iowa is required to follow its recommendations, so precious little progress has been made.
The report found Iowa’s beaches are still being marred annually by health hazards, including the presence of E.coli bacteria and microcystins produced by algae blooms. Although weather conditions and other factors affect annual incidents, water quality experts consulted by The Gazette and Investigate Midwest say, overall, Iowa’s beaches show little sign of improvement over the last two decades.
The result is Iowans who have been using state parks in greater numbers in recent years are finding warnings and advisories against swimming and outright beach closures.
Experts agree that better identifying, regulating the causes of contamination is the best strategy. We know nitrate and phosphorus runoff of from cropland feeds algae blooms. Animal waste, including manure runoff from farm fields. The evidence is piling up in Iowa that a voluntary approach isn’t working and that farmers and landowners should be required to use best management practices.
But the state’s leaders and their agricultural industry allies are unwilling to even discuss basic requirements for protecting water. Republicans and many Democrats are afraid of the politics of regulation more than the damage being done to natural resources.
In 2019, the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission, on the advice of staff from the Department of Natural Resources, rejected the idea of setting numeric water quality standards in Iowa lakes, setting standards for nitrogen and phosphorus. Setting those standards could help the state head off algae blooms and other problems.
But the DNR insisted setting such standards would mean that most of Iowa’s lakes would be declared impaired. Staff argued taking steps to clean up those lakes would be too expensive. Not knowing the state of our lakes would be far cheaper.
But Iowans know. And they’re paying the price every time their favorite state park beach is subject to warnings and closure. It’s time to stop turning a blind eye to Iowa’s dirty water and start taking meaningful steps to protect our natural resources.
(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com
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