Last session, Senator Dan Zumbach (R-Ryan) led the charge to transfer $500,000 from the Iowa State University’s nutrient research fund to the Ag Departments Water Quality Initiative fund – effectively defunding 66 river sensors that monitored nitrate and phosphorus pollution.
As many of you likely know, two of those sensors are located on Bloody Run Creek a premier trout stream in North East Iowa, near the controversial 11,600 cattle feeding operation owned by Senator Zumbach’s son-in-law.
When you look at the $8.5 billion budget passed and signed into law by Governor Reynolds last year, $500,000 is a drop in the bucket. It’s the equivalent of a family of $50,000 needing to find $3 to cover an expense. How little can Iowa’s elected officials do for water in Iowa?
Email your Senator and tell them to reinstate necessary water quality testing! While stop gap funding has been found for 2024, after this year this valuable testing program will go away. This session is the Senate’s chance for course correction before we lose this program. It’s our $500,000 and we want it now
Here are some talking points to add to your email:
- Share why you care about water quality, transparency, and accountability!
- When you look at the $8.5 billion budget passed and signed into law by Governor Reynolds last year, $500,000 is a drop in the bucket. It’s the equivalent of a family of $50,000 needing to find $3 to cover an expense. We can and must restore this necessary funding
- With over 10,000 factory farms, and over 700 impaired waterways, Iowa has a water crisis. The path out of this hole that decades of bad policy and corporate influence has dug requires consistent and quality data about the reality of the problem we face.
