The Iowa Legislature, led by House Republicans, included historic increases in new water quality and water monitoring funding in the Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2027 (HF 2771).

The increases can be found in H-8404 to HF 2771, the special project for water quality. The base bill of HF 2771 provided continued levels of funding for monitoring, including from the Groundwater Protection Fund – Water Quality (Section 9: $3,455,850); and the Environment First Fund EFF: Water Quality Monitoring (Section 19(3): $2,955,000). In addition, HF2771 provides a new $300,000 in funding this fiscal year for monitoring (Section 10). Last but certainly not least, the new special project for water quality (H-8404) provides a new and additional $500,000 in funding for each of the next 12 years, for a total of $6 million.

Any claims the legislature cut funding for monitoring are false. Millions of new dollars for water quality monitoring will be utilized this year and in the many years to come.

Water Quality Funding Is Getting to Work Immediately Through Streamside Buffers

In 2026 the Iowa Legislature passed historic increases in new water quality funding. The money is not going to take months to get to work, it is already moving out the door for proactive water quality projects. Last week, IDALS Secretary Mike Naig announced a major expansion of an existing streamside buffer strip program. An additional $3 million will be added to existing funds, and applications begin immediately. The Streamside Buffer Program provides financial incentives for farmers to install buffers between their fields and waterways to protect water. Buffers can also be layered with additional edge-of-field infrastructure like saturated buffers and bioreactors, which function much like a Brita filter, to capture tile drainage, making them especially effective at reducing nitrate loss. This state-funded incentive program is designed to offer more flexibility for farmers than existing federal cost-share programs.

Previously, the program was limited to the North Raccoon, Boone, Middle Cedar, and Turkey River watersheds as well as all of Dubuque County. This critical water quality program now includes all of areas those plus the 22 counties that make up the Greater Des Moines Watershed project area.