Water issues affect all Iowans

In June, after declaring my campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor, I started traveling the state to hold Interview sessions in 15 Community College districts. The goal is to understand ground level concerns of Iowans through free-flowing conversations. I want to determine what problems most Iowans are concerned about. Iowa’s next governor will need to address those problems.

While most of the participants have been Democrats, there have also been Republicans and no-party voters in the mix. These have been substantive conversations where individual Iowans share what they see as the biggest challenges facing their area and the state and what a successful Iowa would look like. I also answer their questions about my point of view on a variety of issues.

My core reason for running for governor is to solve problems Iowans need solved.

Problem solving requires defining the problem. Then we dig into what is the root cause, or sometimes causes. From there we can define solutions that will hold up over time.

The need for clean water has come up in every location. That’s hardly surprising given the pollution in so many of Iowa lakes and rivers, as well as beaches across the state closed due to E. coli in the water and toxic algae blooms.

When it comes to the problem of turning polluted water into clean water, the answer is very different in different places. For example, when my family lived in Ohio, it was excess pollution from Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG) in Barberton, very near to where my dad worked for Yoder Brothers. The smell was vile and burned the nostrils. All animal and plant life along the river was dead.

In Iowa our water is polluted with excess manure and commercial fertilizer spread on fields is washed through and over the soil to nearby rivers and streams. Nutrient pollution is the result, with nitrate in our drinking water accompanied by phosphorus in our lakes, degrading our quality of life. Our streams are largely unprotected by conservation efforts. Tile drainage systems that underlie many of our farm fields help nitrate pollute our streams.

Water treatment facilities are required to clean the water before it is usable for human consumption. In an oversimplified description, clean water is used to dilute polluted water to a point that it is usable, or the nitrate requires removal using treatment processes. Currently there is a shortage of clean water to use, which has required restrictions on usage and, in some places, outright bans of use for the safety of the people living in those areas. Also, as of July 12, 14 beaches in the state are not recommended for swimming due to E. coli bacteria in the water as designated by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

How did we get here? In 2010, Iowans passed a constitutional amendment creating the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund. It was supposed to fund water quality improvements for a variety of uses, ranging from recreation to drinking water supply. The fund would be filled by an increase in the state sales tax.

But Gov. Terry Branstad and later Gov. Kim Reynolds each chose to ignore the will of the people by not filling the fund. Instead, they focused on sustaining weak regulations and opposed any effort to create measurable standards. Deregulation is a thread that ties together all of Reynold’s environmental efforts.

It is important to note not all who farm contribute to these excesses. But for all the conservationists who practice good land and water stewardship, there are some bad actors. Notably, large animal confinement operations.

At one northwest Iowa Interview session, an Iowan said, “I don’t have a lot of sympathy for Des Moines because we’ve been dealing with worse and for a long time and no one cared.” To which I say, “Fair enough!”

As someone who has been hired to solve problems for clients, I have to provide a list of actions and eventually a plan for how to achieve results. In this case there are several key actions which need to be included in a solution strategy, especially for a problem of this size and scale. This list is a starting list, not a full list, as I’m still learning about the scope of the problem.

The goal of clean water should not be a partisan problem or an urban vs. rural problem, it is a threat to all Iowans. It is time to do the work that needs to be done to achieve a positive result for everyone. If elected as your next governor, I will put my problem solving skills to work to find a resolution on this critical problem.

Julie Stauch is a Democratic candidate for governor. She lives in West Des Moines.