Iowa soybean group reviews Chesapeake Bay cleanup for best practices
The Iowa Soybean Association has released a seven-part series after two employees visited Chesapeake Bay to assess the effectiveness of a more regulatory approach than Iowa’s voluntary Nutrient Reduction Strategy.
The main finding: There isn’t one answer to Iowa’s water quality problems, but the soybean association still is firmly behind the voluntary, collaborative approach.
The association “found no ironclad evidence that regulations or voluntary conservation efforts are the only way to improve water quality,” according to a news release. “The series also shows there are no easy answers or quick fixes to make water cleaner and safer and underscores the need for collaboration and flexibility.”
The report comes as fact-finding continues in Des Moines Water Works’ lawsuit against three northwest Iowa counties over nitrate pollution. Water Works contends that the drainage districts run by Buena Vista, Calhoun and Sac counties should be regulated under the U.S. Clean Water Act.
The series, “Contrasting Currents,” is available online.
“Rather than take references to the Chesapeake Bay and the results of the regulations implemented there verbatim, we wanted to visit firsthand with the people responsible for implementing and abiding by them,” said Joe Murphy, ISA member communications manager and co-author of the report.
Murphy and Matthew Wilde, a senior writer with the association, traveled to the Chesapeake Bay and talked with more than a dozen farmers and government and environmental officials
“We anticipated finding disgruntled bay area farmers who would say regulation is a severe detriment to their business and politicians and environmental experts who would exclusively sing the praises of regulation,” Wilde said in a statement.
“Instead, they explained to us that what might work in one state, township or watershed may not be effective in another due to the vast differences in population, tax base, land use and scope and scale of agriculture,” he continued. “What we heard and learned is that regardless if the system is regulatory or voluntary, it takes decades to improve water quality.”
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