Iowa regulators are not meeting some state requirements for water-quality related conservation practices, according to an analysis of the Department of Natural Resources by state Auditor Mary Mosiman. The DNR is not implementing a program to buy property rights to restore wetlands near agricultural drainage wells, as set out in state law.
The program to purchase wetlands and conservation easements, or the rights to limit development on a property, is meant to improve water quality near closed agricultural drainage wells or ADWs. State law empowers the DNR to restore the land around these wells as part of a larger decades-long effort to "eliminate groundwater contamination caused by the use of agricultural drainage wells." But according to Mosiman's audit, the conservation easement program is not being implemented.
Constructed in the 1900s, the wellspipe water from farmlands deep underground, injecting it into the bedrock and sometimes directly into aquifers. These systems can potentially contaminate drinking water with agricultural runoff containing pesticides, bacteria, feedlot effluent and sediment.
Since the 1990s, the state has been working to seal the known agricultural drainage wells. According to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship website, 28 out of 300 total registered ADWs in the state remain in use, while the rest have been closed or are slated to close. Taking the wells off-line creates an opportunity to change how the water moves across the land, either by restoring wetlands or other natural buffers, or installing artificial drainage networks called tiles.
Joe Jayjack with the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation said he sees wetlands as an important and effective means of filtering the state's water.
“You can measure the levels of sediment and nitrogen and phosphorous on water that’s going into and out of wetlands. And they really just act like a sponge and soak up those nutrients and trap that sediment," Jayjack said. “These natural solutions like wetlands and oxbows have wildlife habitat benefits, water quality, the view is better. It creates more scenery and natural area for wildlife and for people.”
Jayjack said he believes the state should work to treat contamination at the source, preferably with natural means, rather than resorting to a water treatment facility.
"If it's going into drinking water, then you're going to have to treat it somehow. And it's going to be either a treatment facility like that or we're going to sending this problem farther down stream, which I don't think Iowans are very happy about either," Jayjack said.
While conservation easements and wetlands can have positive impacts on water quality and wildlife, they can limit farm production. Statements from the DNR show the department hasn’t implemented the program due to a lack of funding, and a lack of interest from landowners who are hesitant to turn productive farmland into wetlands.
"The Department has a strong interest in restoring wetlands. However, aquiring farmland, either by easement or fee simple, is very expensive," the written statement reads. "Landowners have historically been interested in continuing to farm the land. History has shown farmers prefer assistance with alternative drainage more than wetland restoration."
According to the statements, the DNR will work to have the code amended in upcoming legislative sessions.
