(KIWA Staff Photo)
Statewide Iowa (RI) — The Iowa Department of Agriculture announced last month it will provide farmers and landowners in 22 counties more incentives to plant cover crops and add streamside buffers to improve water quality.
Ag Secretary Mike Naig says all the counties are in the Greater Des Moines Watershed, and the goal is to keep soil and nutrients in fields and out of waterways.
The Des Moines Waterworks instituted a temporary ban on lawn watering for this spring, saying nitrate levels were high and the treatment plant couldn’t keep up. The plant serves Des Moines and surrounding metro areas.
Naig says additional aspects of the watershed program will be announced in the coming months.
Buffers must be maintained for at least ten years to qualify for the funding. More details on precision nutrient management incentives are expected this fall.
Funding comes from the “Farm to Faucet” package signed into law in June. It includes low-interest loans for communities upgrading drinking water and wastewater treatment plants.
Counties Included in the Program
- Audubon
- Boone
- Buena Vista
- Calhoun
- Carroll
- Clay
- Dallas
- Dickinson
- Emmet
- Greene
- Guthrie
- Hamilton
- Hancock
- Humboldt
- Kossuth
- Palo Alto
- Pocahontas
- Polk
- Sac
- Webster
- Winnebago
- Wright
