Eastern Iowa Water Quality Improvement Projects expanded

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig recently announced that five Soil & Water Conservation Districts located in eastern Iowa have been awarded grant money to increase the scope of ongoing water quality improvement projects. The Benton, Black Hawk, Clayton, Winneshiek and Washington County Soil & Water Conservation Districts will receive a combined total of $4.1 million over the next three years.

These monetary grants are funded through the Iowa Water Quality Initiative and support collaborative, community-based projects in priority watersheds that help reduce the nutrient levels in Iowa’s water. WQI funds may be used to install priority conservation practices like wetlands, bioreactors, cover crops and saturated buffers. These practices are scientifically proven to reduce nutrient loads and are critical to helping the state achieve the goals outlined in the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy.