Every Iowan, every human, needs water to survive. Whether to drink, to grow plants, to fish, swim, kayak, and paddle, or to uplift amazing local breweries, wineries, and cideries, the water we access simply must be healthy and plentiful for us to have a future.

Right now, Iowans across the state are recognizing and speaking out about the fact that we have a real water challenge. And they are no longer asking us to make a change. Some are begging, some are demanding, and some are crying out from their children’s hospital rooms.

And Iowa doesn’t start from a great position- unlike many states, we don’t have a strong understanding of our water resources. Without the underground data of a century-old oil and gas industry; without monitoring of non-point sources; without fully funding our State Geologist’s office like other states do to map aquifers; and without finding the funds for the Iowa Flood Center to maintain and grow the Iowa Water Quality Information Sensor network; we have pieces of a very big puzzle, but too many are missing.

What do we know? Our waters are impaired, but our majority leaders want to stop looking, stop monitoring, and stop protecting us. Our well levels are dropping, but water use permits are still under consideration that would send Iowa water out of state. And Iowans, so, so many Iowans, are sick. Young people being diagnosed with cancer flood our social circles. Autoimmune disease. Complications in pregnancies. Stories every week from and about our friends and neighbors.

So, how do we find the other pieces? House Democrats have proposed a few places to start with the Iowa Healthy Waters Act. First, the Act fully funds the statewide water monitoring program at $600,000. Next, it triples funds for the voluntary nutrient reduction strategy, allowing partners across the state to enroll all willing land stewards and get the practices in place from the Mississippi to the Missouri River. Finally, the Act recognizes the foundational role farmers can play, right in our soil, in improving our water statewide, but they need state and federal policies that make regenerative agriculture financially feasible for more producers. When policy supports farmers who embrace best practices for nitrate reduction, including wetlands, buffer strips, bioreactors, and cover crops, we take the first steps towards healthy water for the entire state.

We simply must bring in every Iowan to be a part of the solution, and we really can. Whether we drink and paddle, whether we till and sow, whether we float and noodle, or whether we do all of it, water is in all of our futures, and now is the time to fight for it.

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State Representative Elinor Levin is a Democrat from the Iowa House District 89 in Iowa City and is the Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee.