Counties targeted in Des Moines Water Works lawsuit now slated for conservation investment

Nearly a decade after Des Moines Water Works sued three north Iowa counties over farm pollution , the region is in line to get nearly $2 million pumped into conservation projects, a move central Iowa water utility leaders welcome while urging the state to do more.

The Iowa Department of Agriculture says it's bringing its “Batch and Build” program to Sac County, which enables construction of dozens of bioreactors and saturated buffers. The so-called "edge of field" structures can significantly slash the nitrogen-laced runoff that enters Iowa’s rivers, streams and lakes, experts say.

Similar efforts were announced last year in Buena Vista and Calhoun counties, which along with Sac were targeted in the lawsuit. All three are part of the watershed of the Raccoon River, a primary water source for the central Iowa water utility, which serves 600,000 customers.

"The point of the lawsuit was to stop pollution at the source ... and they're trying to do that, at least on a small scale," said Graham Gillette, a Des Moines Water Works board member.

In 2015, the Des Moines utility asked a federal court to require Sac, Buena Vista and Calhoun county drainage districts, and indirectly farmers, to meet federal clean water standards. The effort would have required massive mandatory investments in conservation efforts. And it could have set a precedent for farmers in other states.

But the lawsuit failed two years later , when a federal judge said the utility "may well have suffered an injury," but the drainage districts had no power to address them. He said Iowa's water quality problems were an issue for the state Legislature to resolve.

Iowa officials instead have urged voluntary efforts to stem runoff of chemical fertilizers and manure from farm fields, while water quality problems have grown. The investments planned in the three counties are laudable, Gillette said, though not enough.

"A good thing is a good thing. But it's still piecemeal action," he said, adding that "our problems continue to mount, based on pollution that comes from upstream."

Iowa agriculture secretary says he hopes to accelerate conservation

Des Moines Water Works has struggled in particular this summer with high nitrate levels in the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers as large rainstorms flushed fertilizers from the soi l, possibly more concentrated following four years of drought.

In May, the utility began running its costly-to-operate nitrate removal equipment to ensure its water meets federal drinking water standards. It was turned off Friday.

In recent years, the utility also has struggled with blue-green algae that can release microcystins. A liver toxin and possible carcinogen, it can cause diarrhea, vomiting, nausea and numbness or dizziness, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says.

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig said he understands the calls for increased action.

"We are incredibly focused on acceleration, with everything we do," Naig said, pointing to the Batch and Build program as an example.

Under the program, instead of individual farmers working with county, state or federal officials to build conservation infrastructure, the work is bundled for several farmers at a time under one group that administers the projects — finding the contractor, managing construction and handling the projects' costs. Polk County was the first to adopt the approach.

The state also is pushing wetland conservation efforts, with 29 new pollutant-filtering wetlands expected to be added this year, including one in Sac and five in Calhoun county. The $16.7 million investment is boosting by 22% the number of the state's wetlands, currently 134.

Effort's funding comes from numerous sources

The work is being completed with $282 million the Iowa Legislature agreed eight years ago to pump into conservation efforts over 12 years. The state agriculture agency says it spent $47.7 million on soil and water health initiatives in the fiscal year ending June 30. The amount doesn't include spending by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, private partners, farmers and landowners and the federal government, the agency said.

Critics, though, say the effort fails to adequately address farm pollution in a state that's a top U.S. producer of corn, soybeans, pork, eggs, beef and milk. About half of the state's assessed rivers and streams — and 63% of its lakes and reservoirs — are considered impaired, according to a state report the U.S. EPA provided this year.

Naig said solutions sometimes take time to develop and test. Bioreactors and saturated buffers, for example, weren't initially in the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, a 2013 blueprint to cut rural and urban nitrogen and phosphorus runoff into waterways across the state.

The runoff, reaching the Mississippi River, contributes to a vast zone around the river's mouth in the Gulf of Mexico that is unable to support aquatic life. This summer, the so-called "dead zone" is expected to be about the size of Connecticut, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast .

'We're trying to have a more productive, constructive relationship'

Naig said northwest Iowa farmers have been receptive to the Batch and Build initiatives, one of which is led by Iowa pork producers, despite the hard feelings the Des Moines Water Works lawsuit left on both sides.

Calhoun County farmers have agreed to construction of 23 bioreactors and saturated buffers, with work slated this fall. Sac County is expected to build about 30 next year, and pork producers will build another 65 in Buena Vista, Calhoun and other counties.

The costs, which the state fully covers, could reach $1.7 million.

"Folks have turned the page," Naig said, adding that the state's efforts are targeted in nine high-priority watersheds that include those of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers. The Batch and Build initiative is underway in 13 other counties.

"We're trying to have a more productive, constructive relationship," Naig said, pointing to a $900,000 partnership announced in 2022 between his department, Des Moines, Polk County and Heartland Cooperative to buy a high-clearance seeder. The equipment makes it easier for north Iowa farmers to plant off-season cover crops that blanket the soil during the winter, preventing erosion and loss of nitrogen and phosphorus that can run off in spring rains and pollute waterways.

Des Moines Water Works CEO Ted Corrigan said the work is welcome. But he added “it’s important to know that we're going to need thousands and thousands of these practices implemented across the state before it starts to make a measurable difference.”

Meanwhile, Des Moines Water Works is considering a $19.2 million plan to drill wells to increase its ability to tap cleaner underground water sources, due in part to concerns about high nitrate levels.

Naig said the Batch and Build program can be expanded. The state can "bring resources to those watersheds, bring focus on those watersheds, bring people and partners to those watersheds, and really try to move the needle in a significant way," he said.

Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com or 515-284-8457.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Counties targeted in Des Moines Water Works lawsuit now slated for conservation investment