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ISA advocates ‘One Water’ approach for Iowa

The Iowa Soybean Association is calling for more cooperation among urban and rural communities to improve water quality and keep nutrients on farmland.

Roger Wolf, ISA’s director of environmental programs, calls it the “One Water” approach.

“Why we’re doing it is to help build a sustainable water future for the state,” Wolf says, “and that’s going to mean that cities and agriculture need to work collaboratively.”

Wolf says cities are spending millions of dollars on water treatment facilities that only remove a relatively small percentage of the total nutrient load. He suggests it would be more cost-effective for cities to help address the pollution problem before it reaches the treatment facility.

“What if we thought differently about it? Could those cities work collaboratively with agriculture as a participant in a watershed project and we start thinking about what are the most cost-effective ways to remove nutrients from entering the stream?”

Wolf points to the Middle Cedar Partnership Project being led by the city of Cedar Rapids. It includes a cost-share assistance program to help farmers who live upstream of Cedar Rapids install nutrient reduction practices such as cover crops, bioreactors and saturated buffers.

The Iowa League of Cities says it supports the One Water concept. The organization’s general counsel, Dustin Miller, says improving water quality is a responsibility of urban and rural residents—and he says collaboration is the best way to do it.

AUDIO: Roger Wolf