Polk County's water improvement program being replicated

• The collective effort from other governments could help alleviate longtime environmental problems linked with farming.

Catch up fast: "Batch and Build" was launched by Polk County Public Works to increase the number of buffer projects — grassy areas at the edge of fields that reduce erosion and help remove nitrates before they enter streams or rivers.

How it works: Conservation projects often follow a cumbersome process. A farmer has to sign up for a government-subsidized cost-share program before hiring a contractor to install buffers and then later submitting paperwork for reimbursement.

• Polk's system cuts much of this red tape by first mapping areas where batch projects — those in proximity of each other — make sense.
• The county then recruits landowners to participate and acts as the central fiscal agent by handling site planning, government approvals, contractor hiring and financing.
• The county also pays landowners $1,000 for temporary easements to access their properties while the projects are being installed.

Between the lines: Polk's program is part of an initiative with the Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance and the Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship.

• Before the program, the county typically assisted with just a few projects a year, John Swanson, Polk's water resources supervisor, tells Axios.

The latest: The batch model is expanding with projects ongoing or planned in at least nine other counties, Don McDowell, a spokesperson for the state's agriculture department, tells Axios.

• Plus, Polk County is expanding the batch concept this year to build rural wetlands — projects that are generally larger, more expensive and complicated than buffers, Swanson says.

Worthy of your time: The Confluence for Watershed Leaders — a national advocacy group — recently highlighted Polk's efforts.

What we're watching: Polk County is also assisting in urban wetlands, including agreements approved last month for a 30-acre project in an undevelopable area of Ankeny.