Ames To Partner With Landowners On Water Quality Goals

Press release from the City of Ames:

April 19, 2021

The City of Ames Water & Pollution Control Department has reached an innovative agreement with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources that allows an investment in conservation practices in the watershed. The goal of this collaboration is to improve water quality and help the City’s Water Pollution Control Facility meet future, more stringent nutrient reduction requirements.

Ames became Iowa’s fourth community to sign such an agreement. Dubuque, Cedar Rapids and Storm Lake reached similar agreements last year. The Ames agreement allows the City to invest in structural practices such as wetlands, saturated buffers, and bioreactors and annual conservation practices such as cover crops. These practices will be implemented in the South Skunk River watershed to improve water quality and reduce the risk of flooding.

“This agreement allows Ames to address nutrient reduction from multiple angles. Not only do we plan to upgrade our wastewater facility technology beginning in 2022, but with this agreement we can further advance the goals of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy by focusing additional resources upstream in the watershed,” said John Dunn, Director for Ames Water & Pollution Control Department.

“The watershed projects undertaken will not only have a nutrient reduction element but will also provide additional benefits such as increased recreational opportunities, improved wildlife habitat, flood mitigation, and source water protection,” said Neil Weiss, Assistant Director for Ames Water & Pollution Control Department.

Sand County Foundation, a national agricultural conservation non-profit, worked closely with these municipalities and the Iowa DNR to develop a model agreement that incentivizes cities and farmers within the same watersheds to address water quality together. “These first agreements are providing a roadmap for Iowa cities to address state water quality requirements. They create a way for cities to assist upstream farmers with farm conservation practices that reduce erosion and excess nutrient runoff,” explained Bartlett Durand, an attorney with Sand County Foundation and the Environmental Policy Innovation Center.

The state requires Ames and about 100 other communities to reduce nitrogen levels by 66 percent and phosphorus levels by 75 percent at their wastewater treatment plants. Timetables to accomplish this vary by community. The wastewater reduction goals are part of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy that calls for urban and rural areas to reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus that reaches the Mississippi River and contributes to the “dead zone” where it meets the Gulf of Mexico.

This press release was produced by the City of Ames. The views expressed here are the author’s own.