§ 466.7 — Water quality protection program

Iowa § 466.7

• Jurisdiction: Iowa
• Title XI: NATURAL RESOURCES
• Ch. 466: IMPROVEMENT OF WATERSHED ATTRIBUTES

Text

1. The department of agriculture and land stewardship shall implement, in conjunction
with the federal government and other entities, a program that provides multiobjective
resource protections for flood control, water quality, erosion control, and natural resource
conservation.
2. The department of agriculture and land stewardship shall implement a statewide,
voluntary farm management demonstration program to demonstrate the effectiveness
and adaptability of emerging practices in agronomy that protect water resources and
provide other environmental benefits. A demonstration program under this subsection may
complement, but shall not duplicate, projects conducted by Iowa state university extension
service. The demonstration program shall be designed to concentrate on management
techniques in both the livestock and crop genres and shall be offered to farm operators
through an educational setting and demonstration projects. The demonstration program
shall be offered in conjunction with the community colleges, Iowa state university, and
private farmer demonstrations. Continuing education units shall be offered. The educational
program shall be offered at no cost to farm operators who file a schedule F with the internal
revenue service and do not have permitted livestock facilities or are certified under a manure
management plan.
3. The department of agriculture and land stewardship shall provide financial assistance
for the establishment of permanent soil and water conservation practices.
4. The department of natural resources shall provide local watershed managers with
geographic information system data for their use in developing, monitoring, and displaying
results of their watershed work. The local watershed data shall be considered public records
and are accessible to the public pursuant to chapter 22.
5. The department of natural resources shall develop a program that provides support to
local volunteer management efforts to the different programs concerned with water quality.
The department shall assist in coordinating and tracking of the volunteer component of these
programs to increase efficiency and avoid duplication of efforts in water quality monitoring
and watershed improvement.
6. The department of natural resources shall provide for activities supporting the analysis
of water quality monitoring data for trends and for the preparation and presentation of data
to the public.
7. The department of natural resources shall contract to assist its staff with the review of
national pollutant discharge elimination system permits.
8. The department of natural resources shall expand floodplain protection education to
better inform local officials that make decisions with regard to floodplain management.
9. The department of natural resources shall continue the establishment of an effective
and efficient method of developing a total maximum daily load program, based on
information gathered on other states’ programs and investigation into alternative methods
for satisfying the requirements.