INVESTING CHECKOFF DOLLARS
Anthony Seeman, ISA Environmental Programs and Services
A SMALL LOOK AT A
BIG ISSUE A Microscopic Look at Iowa Water Quality BY CAROL BROWN
T
he water monitoring program through the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) Environmental Programs and Services (EPS) is an exercise in scale. The program started within larger Iowa watersheds that were already being sampled by the state for nutrient levels. It evolved to encompass smaller watersheds, then drainage districts, field tile lines and finally, individual structures like a bioreactor. Anthony Seeman, EPS environmental research coordinator, oversees the collection and analysis of the water samples, which totaled nearly 4,000 in 2018. “We analyzed samples from 613 locations last year,” says Seeman.
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“Of these locations, 334 were tile drainage outlets. The rest were rivers, streams and edge-of-field practices like bioreactors, saturated buffers, farm ponds and wetlands.” Farmers participating in the water monitoring program allow ISA staff or local watershed coordinators to visit their sites regularly between April and September to collect water samples. Some farmers get more involved, taking the samples themselves for delivery to ISA for processing in the on-site certified water lab. Craig Fleishman has been collecting water samples on his farm for four years. He's also been collecting samples for ISA at five other locations for nearly a decade.
“I enjoy doing it and getting out to the sites regularly,” Fleishman says. “I start at Beaver Creek, and I work my way south to the Des Moines River.” He collects samples every two weeks and delivers them to the ISA office in Ankeny. Each participant receives regular reports that show the water quality at their sites, such as what’s coming from tile lines or how a bioreactor is performing. “I sample from a large tile that flows through a control structure,” Fleishman says. “It cuts across the corner of my farm and goes across a neighbor’s field, crosses a road through a water tunnel and into a ravine. It disappoints me sometimes to see the higher levels
