Avoca, Persia, Panama, Portsmouth, Westphalia, Kirkman, Tennant, Earling, Exira, Brayton, and now, Iowa°®¶¹app largest metro, Des Moines. These are just some of the communities I°®¶¹appve seen recently with water advisories or restrictions in place.
Given the seriousness of the situation, I°®¶¹appm glad it°®¶¹app getting attention. Because we°®¶¹appre reaching a breaking point, and in desperate need of a solution. The problem is, nobody seems willing to name the culprit °®¶¹app corporate agriculture and the °®¶¹appget big or get out°®¶¹app mentality that is now polluting our land and water.
Our current, corporate-driven system of farming isn°®¶¹appt working °®¶¹app not for our farmers, the land, or our water. Farmers are expected to tap into unfair and rigged markets, and federal farm programs force farmers to prioritize production over conservation. Add to this that we°®¶¹appre °®¶¹appfueling the world°®¶¹app just as much if not more than feeding the world. About 30% of Iowa°®¶¹app cropped land is corn used for ethanol. That°®¶¹app a lot of corn that isn°®¶¹appt being used for food, and it uses billions of gallons of precious groundwater annually. And a heck of a lot of nitrogen fertilizer.
How many more closed beaches will it take? How many boil advisories will it take? How many watering bans will it take? How many new cancers or birth defects will it take? What will it take to get real about the very serious problem we°®¶¹appve created that is affecting us all?
Lawmakers voted in 2023 to defund the Iowa Water Quality Information System and it°®¶¹app now running out of money. Our state°®¶¹app voluntary Nutrient Reduction Strategy isn°®¶¹appt working because, well, it°®¶¹app voluntary. Rob Sand seems reluctant to address the impacts of corporate ag, and Governor Reynolds sure hasn°®¶¹appt done anything about it for years. Political donations and corporate influence do seem to run deep.
Back in 2015, then Des Moines Water Works (DMWW) CEO Bill Stowe tried to do something about it and Iowa CCI members were in support every step of the way.
DMWW had sued drainage districts in three northwest Iowa counties over high nitrate levels in the Raccoon River °®¶¹app Des Moines metro°®¶¹app primary drinking source. Instead of heeding this clarion call, politicians and power brokers all across Iowa labeled it a war on agriculture, abdicated all responsibility, and once again swept a problem under the rug. And we, rural and urban, continue to pay the price for those in power not listening.
There is another way, but we have to be willing to do something about it.
That requires us talking about it °®¶¹app naming the problem, discussing solutions, and coming together to solve it. And it sure would help if our elected officials and candidates, all of them°®¶¹app¦ or any of them, would acknowledge this and be willing to take action.
But they°®¶¹appre not.
So I guess it°®¶¹app up to us regular folk to do it. And I believe we can, because our lives are literally on the line.
We can force the people in power to do something about our water crisis and enact policies that create a food and farm system that works for eaters, farmers, workers, and our environment.
If not, this won°®¶¹appt be a problem, it°®¶¹appll be an unmitigated disaster we can°®¶¹appt come back from. The time is now.