DES MOINES, IOWA
A "holistic" conservation approach to curbing
fertilizer runoff polluting Iowa and U.S. streams will work quicker than
litigation, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told The Des Moines
Register's editorial board Monday.
Vilsack fielded questions about Des Moines Water Works'
decision this month to notify three rural counties that it plans to sue them.
The utility charges that drainage districts in northwest Iowa are contributing
to high levels of nitrates in Raccoon River, one of the metro area's sources
for drinking water.
The Des Moines utility has said it expects to file a lawsuit
within 60 days, unless an agreement is reached. Experts say the Water Works
lawsuit could have broad ramifications for farmers, who use drainage tiles to
help raise corn, soybeans and other crops.
Vilsack said a faster and better solution to reducing
nutrient loss in U.S. waterways is a "holistic approach" that he
predicted will have "a profound impact" on water quality, although he
cautioned that it could take five to 10 years to see measurable improvements.
Still, he said those efforts will move the issue farther
than the "three, five, seven, nine, 10 years" it will for Water
Works' lawsuit to be litigated.
Vilsack said Iowa and U.S. farmers are adopting conservation
practices that help reduce the nitrogen and phosphorous runoff blamed for
polluting Iowa waterways, as well as contributing to the dead zone in the Gulf
of Mexico that each summer is unable to support aquatic life.
Iowa has adopted a plan to reduce by 45 percent the nitrogen
and phosphorous entering state waterways. But the strategy has been criticized
by environmentalists because it's voluntary and has no deadline to hit its
goals.
Vilsack said he sees Iowa farmers building conservation
practices, with more than 20,000 farmers and landowners putting four million
acres in federal conservation programs. Since 2009, he said, the agency has
invested $1.7 billion in Iowa conservation.
Vilsack said the federal agency is funding research that
provides more insight "about the biology and biochemistry of nutrient
application, runoff and water quality." It will help farmers and officials
to "better measure what's happening in the soil" and craft better
responses.
"It's all extraordinarily complex," he said.
Among the technology being developed is
"time-released" nutrients, so they're available longer for corn and
soybean plants to use.
"The fact that one-half to one-third of what we do
apply on land is not ultimately used by plants ... strongly suggests we need to
figure out ways in which we can create more efficient fertilizers,"
Vilsack said.