Donnelle Eller

deller@dmreg.com

Iowa’s efforts to help farmers tackle water quality challenges got a boost from a $9.5 million federal grant that will be matched with $4.75 million in state funding and $33 million from the private companies and groups, officials say.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday it awarded $720 million to 84 conservation projects nationwide to help improve water quality, combat drought, enhance soil health, support wildlife habitat and protect agricultural viability.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture worked with Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance, a group supported by three large ag groups, and 43 other partners to secure the USDA grant that supports regional partnerships.

Iowa's work will focus on targeted watersheds within the North Raccoon, South Skunk, Lake Red Rock, Middle Cedar and Upper Cedar watersheds, the groups said.

Part of the effort will look at ways technology can be used to reduce nutrient loss, said Sean McMahon, the alliance's executive. That could range from precision application of fertilizers to using software to help farmers best target conservation practices such as cover crops, bioreactors and saturated buffers to improve water quality.

For example, McMahon said, local, regional and national ag companies that work with farmers plan to incorporate environmental assessment software into their technology platforms to help embed conservation considerations into operating decisions.

The goal is to help farmers improve soil health, yields and profits, while at the same time improve water quality, he said.

Some of the private-sector work will include farmers in Nebraska and Illinois as well as Iowa, McMahon said.

Ag groups said the initiative helps demonstrate the industry's determination to meet the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, a voluntary plan designed to reduce by 45 percent the nitrogen and phosphorus levels that enter state waterways and contribute to the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

The dead zone was an area the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island last summer that was unable to support marine life.

At the same time, Des Moines Water Works has sued drainage districts in three northwest Iowa counties, alleging field tiles there act as conduits that send high levels of nitrates into the Raccoon River, a source of drinking water for 500,000 central Iowa residents.

The utility said it spent $1.5 million last year to remove nitrates that exceeded federal drinking water standards. The agency seeks to have the drainage districts, and indirectly farmers, federally regulated like businesses, manufacturers and cities.