Water quality leaders meet to accept Vilsack’s challenge to ‘think big’
A group of Central Iowa leaders planned to meet today to accept former Gov. Tom Vilsack’s challenge to “think big” on water quality before asking for support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Vilsack’s run as President Barack Obama’s agriculture secretary is coming to an end. But he still is pushing his colleagues in Iowa to come up with large initiatives to address the kinds of water quality issues that prompted Des Moines Water Works to sue three northwest Iowa counties over nitrate contamination in the Raccoon River.
Clive City Councilwoman Susan Judkins arranged for today’s meeting of an informal group that also includes Polk County Supervisor Angela Connolly, Dylan Mullenix of the Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, Michael McCoy of the Metro Waste Authority, Jennifer Terry of Des Moines Water Works and Bethany Wilcoxon of Capital Crossroads.
The group met with Vilsack on the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s lobbying trip to Washington, D.C., earlier this month. Vilsack later told the 200 on the trip that the USDA stands ready to help financially, but he urged Iowans to “think bigger.” He pointedly said he was frustrated with Iowa’s relative lack of action as Minnesota and Wisconsin work more aggressively to improve waterways.
Judkins told a Tomorrow Plan gathering Wednesday that the push needs to be for a major initiative that can gain political support after the Iowa Legislature adjourned without approving a significant new water quality effort.
“While we realized at this point the state had not yet made a decision on how to provide funding to support a statewide water quality implementation effort, we were ready in Central Iowa to take on that challenge,” said Judkins, who is pushing local communities to launch watershed projects, too.
“We are moving into planning and implementation” she said of the Walnut Creek Watershed Authority plans, for example. “That is where the politics gets involved. We need to get the urban communities to adopt the policies that on the front end aren’t always popular.”
She referred to proposals that, for example, might limit development in flood plains or require a certain amount of soil on development sites.
“Having regional cooperation depends on a sense of collective responsibility and providing support to elected leaders as they make difficult decisions on how to use resources and consider putting restrictions in place that help our water quality,” Judkins added.
Vilsack is offering “significant federal resources” to match a large water quality initiative for Iowa. But local leaders will have to act quickly. Vilsack leaves office in January.
Read our earlier coverage of Vilsack’s comments on BusinessRecord.com.
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