Impacts of nitrogen fertiliser use on escalating water treatment costs

1. Impacts of Nitrogen Fertilizer Use on
Escalating Water Treatment Costs
Bill Stowe
CEO and General Manager

2. Description of image.
Iowa’s Industrial Agriculture Reality
20,455,666 hogs in Iowa
83.5 pounds of manure per head/per day

3. Treatment Plant
Recharge Ponds
Drainage Tiling:
Increasing Water
Quantity while
Reducing Water
Quality

4. Iowa Drainage Districts
Hardin County, Iowa
Tragedy of the Commons:
Free use of water resource
to move waste

5. Raccoon River January 2016
Nitrate Load
- University of Iowa
IIHR - Hydroscience and
Engineering

6. Nitrate (NO3) in Water
• EPA Safe Drinking Water Standard: 10 mg/L.
• Nitrate levels above the standard are a public
health risk. Particularly at risk are infants below six
months of age who, if left untreated, could become
seriously ill or die.
• Nitrate treatment not addressed through traditional
lime softening/filtration system. Side-stream
treatment is required.

7. Number of Days Source Waters Above the
10 mg/L Nitrate Safe Drinking Water Standard

8. Costs to Water Treatment Facilities
At Farm vs. Downstream
Des Moines Denitrification Costs
2015 O&M Costs $1,500,000
Estimated Cost for Denitrification
Facilities Upgrades $80 million
Paid for by ratepayers
$1.50-$22.00 per pound on the farm
$15.00-$47.00 per pound at municipal treatment plant
– NACWA

9. Iowa’s Wasted Resources
• Billions of dollars in federal ag subsidies with
no greater use of conservation practices
• No tie between federal subsidies and long-term
accountability
“Fooling Ourselves:
Voluntary Programs
Fail to Clean Up Dirty
Water,” Environmental
Working Group,
February 2016

10. Solutions for Water Quality Improvement
1. Treat pollution at the source: in-field or
edge-of-field solutions.
2. Transparent measuring and monitoring of
protection of public health – NPDES compliance.
3. Agricultural accountability for environmental
protection – Resources follow accountability,
not vice versa.

11. Sac County, Iowa
No other business besides agriculture
can run a pipe without regulation
into the waters of the state.
Why is agriculture different?

12. ____ THINK DOWNSTREAM ____