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December 21, 2016
DES MOINES -- A 2016 report of
Iowa’s water monitoring efforts for nutrients highlights both the complexity
and long-term value of evaluating nutrient levels in Iowa’s lakes, streams and
rivers.
Developed jointly by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land
Stewardship and Iowa Department of Natural Resources, with the support of Iowa
State University and
the University of Iowa IIHR—Hydroscience and Engineering
Center, the report is the
first of its kind in Iowa and includes a comprehensive list of surface water
monitoring efforts specific to nutrients.
The report was
developed in support of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy and is available at
www.nutrientstrategy.iastate.edu/documents underneath the heading "Supplemental Documents."
“Iowa has a comprehensive water
quality monitoring effort in place that is supported by a variety of partners.
Monitoring results were central to identifying the practices highlighted in the
Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy and have provided valuable information as we
have established priority watersheds. It continues to be an important part of
our efforts as we work to increase the pace and scale of practice adoption
needed to improve water quality,” Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey
said.
Water monitoring can be
used for a variety of purposes and look at a broad range of parameters.
This report focused specifically on the numerous water monitoring projects for
nutrients in place across Iowa to better understand the water quality status of
streams and rivers. The report discusses the complexity of nutrient monitoring
and practices; for example, when changes are made within a target watershed, water
quality improvements will likely be visible sooner in smaller watersheds compared
to a larger watershed. Therefore, current monitoring efforts target a variety
of scales, including:
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Large Watersheds: (approximately 950,000 acres, or about 2.5 counties in area). This
includes Iowa DNR’s fixed-station network that monitors 60 sites across the
state and the University of Iowa’s IIHR – Hydroscience and Engineering management
of 45 real-time monitoring stations.
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Small Watersheds: (approximately 22,500 acres, or about 16 per county). Several
initiatives have been developed, including 18 projects with the Iowa Water
Quality Initiative focused on targeted small-scale watershed areas. These focus
on helping farmers implement proven conservation practices and monitoring to
confirm their effectiveness.
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Paired Watersheds: Two ongoing projects in Iowa look at similarly sized watersheds where
one receives targeted conservation practices and the other does not. Water
monitoring at the outlet of each watershed examines the collective impact of
conservation practices.
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Edge-of-Field Monitoring: The Iowa Soybean Association, Iowa State University
and a number of other organizations conduct monitoring at the edge of farm
fields through farmer collaboration and on research sites. This scale of
monitoring is used to inform, target and prioritize implementation due to
ability to implement practices that can have a measurable effect in a shorter
time frame.
Even with the extensive network
of water monitoring efforts in place, measuring changes in natural ecosystems
presents several technical, scientific and policy challenges. The report
outlines several of those complicating factors, including legacy nutrients, lag
time, limitations of conservation practice data, extreme weather events,
locations of monitoring sites, importance of long-term data collection and
variable precipitation, and stream flow.
“While challenges exist, we
believe continued nutrient monitoring is critical to understanding what Iowa
can do to be successful,” said Chuck Gipp, DNR Director. “All partners involved
in developing this report know the value of long-term evaluation and are
committed to continuing with a science-based approach to nutrient reduction in
Iowa waters.”
The Nutrient Reduction Strategy is
a research- and technology-based approach to assess and reduce nutrients,
specifically nitrogen and phosphorus, delivered to Iowa waterways and the Gulf
of Mexico. Monitoring Iowa streams provides insight into measuring water
quality progress and the reduction of surface water nutrient loss. The Nutrient
Reduction Strategy aims to reduce the load, or amount of nutrients, lost
annually from the landscape. According to Gipp, this report serves as a means to
improve understanding of the extent of current nutrient monitoring networks in
Iowa.
Contacts:
- Dustin Vande Hoef, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land
Stewardship, (515) 281-3375, dustin.vandehoef@iowaagriculture.gov
- Adam Schnieders, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, (515) 725-8403,
adam.schnieders@dnr.iowa.gov
- Dana Woolley, Iowa Nutrient Research Center, (515) 294-5905,
dwoolley@iastate.edu
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