Published January 7, 2006


Governor seeks $50 million to clean up state's water

By PERRY BEEMAN
REGISTER STAFF WRITER

Gov. Tom Vilsack wants state lawmakers, who begin this year's work on 
Monday, to back a $50 million attack on water pollution — his biggest 
cleanup proposal since he took office in 1999.

The money would come from refinancing bonds backed by money the state got in 
a legal settlement with tobacco companies.

Vilsack said the state has had water quality problems for decades, and he 
wants enough money to start a serious cleanup that will spur more work 
later. Iowa's waters, some of the most fertilizer-polluted in the world, 
often are pea-green, low on oxygen, and occasionally home to organisms that 
can make swimmers sick.

The pollution raises many Iowans' water bills because it costs more to treat 
mucky water. For example, Des Moines Water Works had to install one of the 
world's largest nitrate-removal plants, which costs a typical customer a 
shade over $3 a month when nitrate levels are high enough to force the 
utility to run the system.

The contamination also feeds algae and nuisance plants that can make lakes 
smelly, harder to travel and lower in fish populations.

More than 200 Iowa lakes and river stretches are listed officially as 
seriously polluted, but state biologists have acknowledged that more like 
1,000 to 1,500 river stretches and lakes could qualify for the list later. 
That's because the state will have new limits on some pollutants, including 
common fertilizer ingredients, under orders from the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency.

Lawmakers' response to Vilsack's request could affect swimmers, skiers, 
anglers, canoeists and boaters. It could make cleanup efforts easier for 
people such as James Coffey of Emmetsburg, who has spent many years helping 
clean Five Island Lake in the picturesque northwest Iowa town.

"It's a fairly expensive proposition," said Coffey, an organizer in a 
project that launched dredging, water-testing and soil-conservation projects 
at Five Island. "It depends on what they are going to do whether it's a good 
idea. I'd think they should be checking all the lakes. They might be 
surprised at what they saw."

Politically speaking, Vilsack is unlikely to cruise out of the Legislature 
without hitting some big waves. The governor is asking for $50 million, to 
be spent over three years, when the state has nearly $100 million in a 
clean-water loan account that hasn't been spent.

Vilsack spokeswoman Jennifer Mullen said the new spending would dovetail 
with the state's loan programs in some cases, allowing cities to take out 
no-interest loans instead of paying low interest, for example. In others, it 
would take new approaches, such as offering to pay for dredging or other 
lake improvements in areas that have already installed buffer strips and 
other erosion control measures.

That way, Mullen said, the success of the new projects can be measured by 
checking for improvements in water quality. The governor doesn't want to 
spend money on lakes that would be quickly spoiled by unchecked runoff, she 
said.

Republican leaders agree that more cleanup work is needed, but they want to 
know how much difference the spending will make. They also warn that part of 
money from the refinanced tobacco-settlement bonds probably will be used to 
repay state accounts raided to balance earlier budgets. Those accounts were 
supposed to pay for new all-terrain vehicle trails, services for senior 
citizens so they can stay in their private residences, cleanup of leaking 
underground storage tanks and tire piles, and construction of snowmobile 
trails, for example.

The governor saw the added cash from the refinanced bonds as a chance to 
address water quality in ways that haven't been possible during a budget 
crunch, said Mullen.

Vilsack hopes the success of those efforts — especially those at lakes where 
a lot of soil-conservation work already has been done — will encourage 
lawmakers to keep up the fight after he leaves office, Mullen added.

The governor and members of both political parties have acknowledged in 
recent years that the presence of clean, well-used lakes in an area is a 
measurable boost to local economies.

Patti Cale-Finnegan of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources said the 
state's pool of low-interest loans for clean-water projects such as sewer 
improvements and buffer strips stands at $97 million, even after $30 million 
was shifted to drinking-water work because the demand was higher in that 
arena.

The state has $90 million in requests, but often it takes years for the 
projects to reach construction. The balance changes as loan repayments come 
in, and new loans are closed, Cale-Finnegan said.

Coffey, a retired doctor who has led Five Island Lake restoration and 
monitoring projects, said Vilsack's plan could be a huge boost to what has 
become a much more aggressive water-quality effort in Iowa in recent years.

The state spends a few million dollars a year on water testing, and Iowa 
State University scientists each summer assess several dozen major lakes.

Mark Ackelson, president of the nonprofit Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, 
said Vilsack's plan has promise, but much will depend on how the money is 
spent. He said the governor would do well to reassemble a network of 
environmental and agriculture groups that held a summit a few years ago, 
recommending a variety of work based on solving problems within each river 
or lake area.

Neila Seaman has followed water issues in Iowa for years. She runs the 
office of the environmental group Sierra Club in Des Moines.

"Iowa must comply with the Clean Water Act, and this funding would help 
jump-start projects to make that happen," Seaman said.

Sen. David Johnson, a Republican from Ocheyedan, has closely followed 
water-quality work at the Iowa Great Lakes, one of Iowa's most heavily 
visited tourism areas. Johnson said there is no doubt that the state needs 
to do more work to improve the economically important lakes and rivers. How 
much money gets approved, Johnson said, will depend in part on how much of 
the new bond money is used to repay accounts tapped to earlier budget 
deficits.

Copyright © 2005, The Des Moines Register.

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