Wetlands to Farmland: Causing a Flood of Problems
The practices of local drainage districts and levee districts are detrimental to water quality and to the environment in general. Illinois Farm Bureau champions the rights of these local organizations while deterring any other local efforts to mitigate their negative impacts.
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| Before and after pictures of Drainage District stream "improvements"
on the Salt Fork River. Such improvements increase downstream
flooding, increase the transportation of sediment and agricultural
chemicals, and stream bank erosion. The effects on wildlife habitat
are also tremendous. |
Levee districts maintain levees that constrain the river to a narrow channel, cutting off wetlands and backwater lakes, which damages wildlife habitat and makes flood events more common.
Illinois Farm Bureau has resisted measures that would hold drainage and levee districts responsible for downstream impacts like drinking water contamination, habitat impairment and property damages due to flooding from channelization and increased stream flows.
Some facts:
• Farm Bureau will "seek uniform interpretation of regulations
to allow stream and drainage ditch maintenance without the requirement
of a permit" (1999 IFB Policy Resolutions, Section 20).
• Illinois Farm Bureau supports "legislation which will deter unwarranted interference with drainage work" (Section 20).
• Illinois Farm Bureau supports "drainage districts as independent units of local government and their right to retain control" (Section 20).
• The Farm Bureau "believes adequate funds should be made available to the Corps of Engineers and Natural Resource Conservation Service to assist in the repair of levees on the main rivers and their tributaries" (Section 27).
• The Bureau supports efforts "to secure federal and state funds for constructing certified levees and associated systems on major rivers" (Section 27).
Not only does the Illinois Farm Bureau support drainage and levee districts, but it issues policy statements that would increase these districts' autonomy, hold others accountable for downstream impacts, and continue to exempt the agriculture industry from taking responsibility for its actions.
Illinois Farm Bureau supports:
• Legislation to enable local governmental units to unite to solve
stormwater problems stemming from impervious surfaces in watersheds
within their jurisdictions so long as the power and authority
of drainage districts are not forcibly usurped or diminished.
For purposes of storm-water management, farmland would not be
considered an impervious surface (Section 20).
• A requirement for all municipalities to institute projects such as water retention basins and dry dams that would collect water runoff and release it at a slower rate (Section 20).
• Legislation to make the creation of River Conservancy Districts more difficult (Section 34). Under Illinois law these districts have the authority to curtail agricultural runoff and protect water quality.
The Illinois Farm Bureau opposes…
• Legislation that would grant any stormwater management authority
the power to regulate farmland drainage (Section 20).
• The involuntary dissolution of agricultural drainage districts and their administration and taxing levy being assumed by the county stormwater commission (Section 20).
Enough is enough
Drainage districts were created long ago to turn the marshy prairies
of Illinois into productive farm ground. Drainage districts have
served their purpose, and it could be argued that the archaic
statutes that created these entities need to be overhauled, if
not eliminated.
The activities of drainage and levee districts supported by the Illinois Farm Bureau already have caused a tremendous amount of environmental damage.
In 1993, Illinoisians were reminded by the Mississippi River that constraining the river's flow can have disastrous consequences. Levees throughout the floodplain pushed the floodwaters to ever higher stages.
Illinois Farm Bureau advocates more money be spent to fortify these levees when the sensible measure would be to create and restore wetlands to help minimize the chance that such a flood would occur again.
How to contact Prairie Rivers Network:
Phone: 217-344-2371
Fax: 217-344-2381
Web: http://prairierivers.org
E-mail: info@prairierivers.org
Mail: 809 South Fifth Street, Champaign, IL 61820
