IEC calls for long-term water quality funding
A new analysis of state programs by the nonprofit Iowa Environmental Council found that the Iowa Legislature already has the tools to ensure steady, long-term financing of water quality work the council supports.
In “Healthy Lands, Healthy Waters” the council calls on the state to:
- Focus on whole watersheds in planning work to improve water quality.
- Give a bigger role to the Watershed Management Authorities, which allow cities, counties, soil districts and others to join to protect waterways and to limit flooding.
- Create a long-term, sustainable source of cash for water quality work, perhaps through the proposed 3/8ths of 1 percent sales tax for conservation and recreation work. That would generate an estimated $150 million to $180 million a year but appears to remain dead on arrival in the House of Representatives.
The council noted that in addition to the sales tax proposal, money could come from legislative appropriations that are already part of state law, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“In, Iowa needs a watershed framework to improve the health of our water and land,” the council says in its report. ” State leaders have already laid the foundation, and existing plans and programs are well-suited to fit within it. We have good practices and projects underway and successful watershed planning models to learn from. We can have cleaner water and healthier land if we are willing to invest in the future.”
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