Pete Seeger famously wrote a song called "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" about a bullheaded sergeant that dragged his charges through a raging river and eventually drowned for his efforts. Iowa is in a similar strait with CAFOs, corn, and soybeans. Because Iowa relies so much on pigs, corn, and soybeans as fuel for its economy, Big Ag has been able to decimate the water and air quality--thanks to like-minded legislators who have underfunded the Dept. of Natural Resouces, have written environmental rules and state laws that are preferential to Big Ag donors, and have limited the counties from having the authority to control Big Ag concerns in their backyards.
According to the Des Moines Register, "More than two hundred of Iowa’s community water systems struggle with high nitrate levels, periodically issuing “Do Not Drink” orders. The state is the second-largest contributor of nitrates to the Gulf in the Mississippi River Basin." Also according to the Register, attributable factors are:
"Drainage tiles, which help make about 12 million acres of Iowa land farmable, enable nitrogen that's both applied and in the soil organically to move much more quickly into Iowa rivers and streams.
Massive row-cropping, which has put roughly two-thirds of Iowa land into farm production, also is elevating nitrate concentration in the state's waterways, say Schilling and others. And the loss of perennial crops such as alfalfa in many farmers' rotation plays a role in those rising levels."
Where CAFOs are concerned, Iowa has more than four times as many large concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) as it did in 2001, and over the last decade has added nearly 500 new or expanded state-permitted CAFOs annually — now an estimated 10,000 CAFOs of all sizes. Manure leaks and spills are associated with fish kills, nitrate and ammonia pollution, antibiotics, hormones, bacterial contamination, algae blooms, water quality impairments and closed beaches and are a major contributor to the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.
While recent legislation was designed to slow the roll of these pollutants, understandably not everyone agrees that legislation without enforcement is enough. Simply stated, the cost of doing business in Iowa is too high for Iowans in terms of health and well-being. Sadly, without a change in political will in the State House and in the Governor's office, Iowans are likely to be metaphorically submerged in animal waste and nitrates as we are "Waist deep! Neck deep! Soon even a tall man'll be over his head, we're waist deep in the Big Muddy! And the big fool says to push on!"
According to the Des Moines Register, "More than two hundred of Iowa’s community water systems struggle with high nitrate levels, periodically issuing “Do Not Drink” orders. The state is the second-largest contributor of nitrates to the Gulf in the Mississippi River Basin." Also according to the Register, attributable factors are:
"Drainage tiles, which help make about 12 million acres of Iowa land farmable, enable nitrogen that's both applied and in the soil organically to move much more quickly into Iowa rivers and streams.
Massive row-cropping, which has put roughly two-thirds of Iowa land into farm production, also is elevating nitrate concentration in the state's waterways, say Schilling and others. And the loss of perennial crops such as alfalfa in many farmers' rotation plays a role in those rising levels."
Where CAFOs are concerned, Iowa has more than four times as many large concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) as it did in 2001, and over the last decade has added nearly 500 new or expanded state-permitted CAFOs annually — now an estimated 10,000 CAFOs of all sizes. Manure leaks and spills are associated with fish kills, nitrate and ammonia pollution, antibiotics, hormones, bacterial contamination, algae blooms, water quality impairments and closed beaches and are a major contributor to the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.
While recent legislation was designed to slow the roll of these pollutants, understandably not everyone agrees that legislation without enforcement is enough. Simply stated, the cost of doing business in Iowa is too high for Iowans in terms of health and well-being. Sadly, without a change in political will in the State House and in the Governor's office, Iowans are likely to be metaphorically submerged in animal waste and nitrates as we are "Waist deep! Neck deep! Soon even a tall man'll be over his head, we're waist deep in the Big Muddy! And the big fool says to push on!"
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