USDA dedicates $30mn to improve water quality

OREANDA-NEWS. November 10, 2015. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will invest \\$30mn this year to improve water quality in high-priority watersheds within the Mississippi river basin.

The funds will go to 33 new projects and 40 existing projects that are dedicated to reduce the loss of nutrients and sediments in major waterways that connect with the Gulf of Mexico.

New projects include improvements to the Kickapoo river in Wisconsin, Upper Birds point in Missouri, Upper Bayou-Macon in Arkansas, and Slocum creek in Iowa.

"By targeting small priority watersheds within the Mississippi river basin, we are helping to deliver local water quality benefits and contributing to large-scale improvements for the basin as a whole," USDA agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack said.

Each project is funded through the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service's (NRCS) Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative. The investment is the newest partnership the NRCS maintains with various water quality initiatives, including conservation programs established by the 2014 Farm Bill.

NRCS is investing \\$30mn areas per year over the next three years as a part of a \\$100mn commitment established by the 2014 Farm Bill to address water quality concerns for specific projects, according to the USDA. The NRCS invested \\$10mn in 2014 to fund 27 new high-priority watershed projects and 13 existing projects along the Mississippi river.

Water quality in major US rivers has been an ongoing issue over the last three decades. A recent report published by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said high nitrate levels in major waterways have only slightly decreased since 1985, when nitrate levels increased up to fivefold in concentrated agriculture regions, such as the Midwest, because of increased use of nitrogen-based fertilizers.

"The consolidation of agriculture production in the Midwest US and its link with elevated river [nitrate] concentration were evident and stand in contrast to basins in other regions of the US," the study said.

Although agricultural and crop use of nitrogen-based fertilizers has slowly decreased over the last 30 years, nitrate levels in major waterways have not substantially improved.

High nitrate levels in rivers can foster low oxygen zones in coastal waters, such as the Gulf of Mexico, according to the USGS. These low oxygen zones harm fisheries, ecological habitats and pose a threat to the drinking water supply.

Elevated nitrate levels in Iowa even caused the Des Moines water utility to sue three nearby counties earlier this year. The suit alleges that fertilizer runoff from farms in the counties has resulted in higher water treatment costs in Des Moines.