Iowa Considers Water Quality Law Changes

The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors got an update at Monday's board meeting on a couple of state measures that could affect area agriculture. They met with John Torbert, executive director of the Iowa Drainage District Association, West Des Moines.

Torbert said the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is looking at further ways to protect the state's waters from pollution. Farmers may be required to take measures similar to those currently taken by businesses and industries to reduce contamination of water, he said. "Drainage districts have had an exemption that exists in current legislation," Torbert said.

"The rules are not in place yet," Torbert said. Public hearings are still going on.

In another matter, the state is working to revise water quality standards.

"The Environmental Protection Agency has directed the state to come up with new standards that will change the allowable levels of certain chemicals in our drinking water," Torbert said.

In Iowa, phosphorous and nitrogen are the two main pollutants, Torbert said, and the state is nowhere close to meeting the proposed standards. Solutions to reduce phosphorous levels are usually not compatible with solutions to reduce nitrogen levels.

SOURCE: Water Quality Association