The Des Moines Water Works has decided to go ahead and file a federal lawsuit against three rural counties in northwest Iowa, an action that could trigger far-reaching effects on how states approach water quality regulation. The March 10 decision by the Water Works board of trustees follows a 60-day warning they gave to the county boards of supervisors in Buena Vista, Calhoun and Sac counties.

MEASURING PROGRESS: Tony Seeman of the Iowa Soybean Association is sampling water for testing. ISA analyzed thousands of water samples from 41 locations in the Raccoon River Watershed from 1999 to 2014. They found nitrate concentrations had decreased by nearly 25%. Photo by Joe Murphy/ISA

The lawsuit targets the supervisors in those three counties—alleging the county officials aren't doing enough to prevent nitrates from entering streams and rivers from farm fields. The county boards of supervisors oversee the 10 drainage districts in the three counties. The Water Works board voted unanimously on Tuesday to file the lawsuit.

Farmers who've used no-till and other soil conservation practices and nitrogen management practices for decades have a hard time understanding why the Water Works is so intent on suing the three counties for contributing to high nitrates in the Raccoon River, a major source of drinking water for 500,000 residents of Des Moines and the surrounding area in central Iowa. "We're doing everything we can to retain nutrients in our fields for use by our crops. But we can't control Mother Nature," says Dwight Dial, who raises corn, soybeans and pigs near Lake City in Calhoun County.

Farmers vow to continue putting more water quality practices to work
Water Works officials say the utility has fought too long with high nitrate levels and can no longer afford to wait for farmers to ramp up conservation efforts to help improve water quality. They say rising nitrate levels in the Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers this winter required them to operate their expensive nitrate removal equipment for 97 consecutive days. That system at the Water Works facility in Des Moines is getting old and worn out and will soon require a new upgrade and replacement which could cost $80 million to $100 million.

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Many farmers are frustrated and angry about the lawsuit. But they say the lawsuit won't keep them from implementing additional water quality improvement practices and projects in the region that's being targeted by the Water Works litigation. Roger Wolf, director of Environmental Programs and Services (EPS) for ISA, agrees.

"Tuesday's decision by the Des Moines Water Works Board of Trustees to sue the boards of supervisors in Sac, Buena Vista and Calhoun counties for allegedly allowing nitrates from the 10 drainage districts they oversee to pollute the Raccoon River, a primary source water for the utility, won't deter environmental efforts in the region," says Wolf. He says the Iowa Soybean Association's commitment to environmental and agronomic performance is steadfast and will be for decades to come.

Water Works says Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy is a failure
Des Moines Water Works CEO Bill Stowe has repeatedly said the lawsuit is necessary to protect the utility's 500,000 customers because farmers and the state won't take necessary steps to improve water quality. Stowe and the Water Works board say voluntary conservation efforts are a failure.

That's simply not the case, Wolf says. The ISA has invested more than $40 million — a combination of Soybean Checkoff, public and private funds — since 2001 in Environmental Programs and Services and in On-Farm Network programs to help farmers be more productive and profitable in a sustainable way. A big emphasis of these farmer-led ISA efforts is nutrient retention, which effects water quality.

"We're owning these issues," Wolf says. "ISA board members, through strategic investments, have made water quality and soil health a priority. It's a responsibility to the community we take seriously."

Iowa ag and conservation groups partner on watershed projects
The ISA is one of more than 30 partners in three watershed demonstration projects—two are in counties involved in the lawsuit — recently announced by the Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship. They include:

The Elk Run Watershed Water Quality Initiative Project: Sac, Carroll and Calhoun counties

Headwaters North Raccoon River: Buena Vista and Pocahontas counties

Leading a New Collaborative Approach to Improving Water Quality in the Squaw Creek Watershed: Story, Boone and Hamilton counties

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These three demonstration watershed projects cover nearly 275,000 acres, and join 13 other WQI initiatives statewide. The projects will implement and demonstrate the effectiveness and adaptability of a host of conservation practices including cover crops, nutrient management, wetlands, terraces, bioreactors, buffer strips, no-till, strip-till and nitrogen inhibitors, among other in-field and edge-of-field practices. The Iowa Water Quality Initiative will provide $1.4 million to the three new projects, coupled with matching funds, during the next three years.

Farmers need to continue adding conservation practices

Calhoun County Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioner Brent Johnson is encouraging more farmers to participate in these and other water quality projects. An ISA member, Johnson farms 900 acres and operates a crop consulting business near Manson. "We definitely need to be engaged in the process," he says. "Farmers are always looking for ways to be more sustainable."

ISA is involved in most of the watershed projects statewide. The ISA's EPS and On-Farm Network teams provide services from conservation planning, implementation and water monitoring to data collection, interpretation and replicated strip trials.

Ag groups say farmers are making progress on improving and protecting water quality, primarily through the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, a plan designed to reduce the amount of nitrate and phosphorus entering Iowa streams and rivers. But the Des Moines Water Works dismisses the nutrient reduction strategy as ineffective and not working fast enough, because it is a voluntary plan that has no deadlines for achieving water quality improvement. Farmers participate, using various conservation and nutrient management practices suggested in a plan tailored to their particular farming operation.

Conflicting data is due largely to weather variability and timing
The Iowa Soybean Association says its monitoring program analyzed thousands of water samples from 41 locations in the Raccoon River Watershed from 1999 to 2014 and found nitrate concentrations decreased by nearly 25%. The Des Moines Water Works says it had to run its nitrate removal equipment for 97 consecutive days this winter because nitrate concentrations in the river water supply it uses were higher than federal law allows.

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Farmers say extreme weather, such as recent droughts and flooding, is influencing nitrate loading, something they can't control. And lawsuits definitely can't control the weather, they point out. "Farmers, not the government, need to decide what conservation and nutrient management practices work best for them," says Tom Oswald, a northwest Iowa farmer and president of ISA. "If fixing water quality was an easy issue to solve, it would already be done."

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey issued this statement regarding the Des Moines Water Works decision to go ahead and file the lawsuit: "Their decision to pull back from collaborative partnerships in the Raccoon River watershed and pursue costly litigation doesn't appropriately recognize both the complexity of improving water quality and maintaining a productive agriculture in this state."

Corn farmers are also disappointed in Water Works lawsuit
Leaders of the Iowa Corn Growers Association say their farmer members feel unfairly targeted by this lawsuit. "The Des Moines Water Works has elected to pursue expensive and unproductive litigation against farmers and their drainage districts more than 100 miles from Des Moines," says an ICGA press release. "Iowa corn farmers are very disappointed in this shift away from a collaborative, results-oriented model that has been the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's gold standard for improving water quality. This litigation will cause scarce resources to be reallocated away from current projects without any guarantee of improving our waters."

Iowa's climate and rich soils are the main factors in the nutrient fluctuations in the state's rivers, say ICGA leaders. "Farms and growing seasons are certainly not all alike," points out Jerry Mohr, a farmer from Eldridge and president of ICGA. "By embracing the best science and relying on years of experience, each farmer adds to the collaboration that results in measurable benefits to Iowa's water."

A one-size-fits-all approach won't improve Iowa water quality
The Des Moines Water Works lawsuit implies that an unrealistic 'one size fits all' legal solution will improve water quality. But that won't work, says Mohr. "What works best on my farm may not work best on your farm. Conservation and water quality practices need to be chosen and implemented farm-by-farm, field-by-field to be most effective."

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Mohr adds, "Iowa farmers are very aware of the role they play in our state's quality of life. Working together has, and always will be, the best way to achieve long-term solutions." Farmers are focused on continuous conservation improvements to mitigate the unpredictability of weather, he says. ICGA has partnered with farmers and ag stakeholders in the following projects targeted at improving water quality for all Iowans:

Invested in research for a nitrogen use efficiency trait for corn. This allows more bushels of corn to be grown with the same amount of nitrogen fertilizer which has potential water quality benefits.

Partnered with the Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship and funded research at Iowa State University to document the effectiveness of in-field and edge-of-field nutrient management practices.

Provided research dollars to the Iowa Nutrient Research and Education Council, which is enhancing the role of ag retailers and crop advisors to accelerate the adoption of on-farm water quality practices.

Established the Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance and invested dollars to advance the nutrient reduction strategy, promote adoption of conservation practices, and support research and credible data to show progress.

Supported the National Corn Growers Association's Soil Health Partnership, which has established a network of demonstration farms to evaluate the economic and environmental benefits of soil health practices.