Author: Ashley Rosales

Animal Agriculture Water Use Exceeds Billions of Gallons Annually in Iowa

If every person in Iowa drank a gallon of water every day for 10 years, that would still not match the 19.2 billion gallons of water permitted every year for animal agriculture.
“Resources are abundant in water, but they're not infinite. It’s important to know how much is being used, and the forecast demand, and the bottom line is we don’t want operations to fail,” Michael Anderson, senior civil engineer with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said.
“For all animal feeding operations, we’ve permitted 19.2 billion gallons of water in 2024,” he said. “Actual reported usage is around 5 billion gallons, about 27% of what was permitted.”
Animal producers rely on water heavily. Finding a balance of how they use their water, while trying to remain environmentally friendly, can be a difficult task to manage.
“It’s not just about using less water, it’s about making sure the water we use benefits the animals and crops, without harming the environment,” Ben Wikner, owner of a Clayton County farm, says. He uses around 5,000 gallons a day of water for roughly 2,000 pigs.
For Bob Ryan, who owns a 1,800-acre pig farm near Ryan, north of Cedar Rapids, things are a little different. Ryan uses 400 gallons a day for about 400 pigs.
The DNR issues water permits to those who exceed 25,000 gallons of water a day. Ryan and Wikner operate under that limit, meaning they avoid the permit process.
“It's not difficult to get, if you understand the procedure,” said Mark Schleisman, of M&M Farms. 

“I don't disagree with the process. It’s only there to protect the people using the water.”
In addition to raising hogs and having a cow-calf operation, Schleisman and his family grow corn, soybeans and popcorn on their 5,000-acre farm near Lake City, in west-central Iowa, according to Practical Farmers of Iowa.
After determining the water source, whether a well, groundwater, or natural surface water, you begin the application process. A comment period follows in the local newspaper or on the web, opening the process to the opinion of the public.
“People mostly consider the DNR as an expert agency. You know somebody who is charged under the state of Iowa law with making these decisions, but it doesn't happen in a vacuum. We allow public input, and we have ways of problem-solving if something
seems awry or needs more work,” Anderson said.
“What we need to know is where the well is, how deep the well is, and how much water you are proposing pulling from the well,” Anderson explains from the DNR’s side of things.
The DNR continues the review process by analyzing data sets that track groundwater levels, nearby wells, and existing water use to ensure proposed withdrawals do not interfere with surrounding users.
“To make sure it's not going to harm or cause what we call damage to nearby users,” Anderson said.
With no issues from the community, the permit is granted to that farmer. They now have access to a sliver of the 19 billion gallons of water reserved for animal agriculture.
Animals need water to drink, stay cool
Providing the right amount of high-quality water for drinking, cooling, cleaning, and irrigation is essential for a healthy farm.
“One well supplies the water for all of our drinking and personal needs, as well as what the pigs would drink too, and then, as well, we use some evaporative cooling,” Wikner explained.
He uses the most water on his farm to provide drinking water for his animals. That holds true for Ryan, who said pigs drink, on average, a gallon of water a day. Both farmers use smaller amounts of water to mist their animals on extremely hot summer days.
“As far as cooling goes, you know, there's maybe, I would say, for me, a half a dozen days a year, and I bet I don't put more than 100 gallons to cool them. You know, it's basically zero,” Ryan said.
Schleisman, who went through the process of receiving a permit through the DNR, is required to report on an annual basis how much water he uses, but is not required to report what he used that water on. He prioritizes what’s best for his farm, carefully managing water use for all purposes and making a consistent effort to stay within limits while remaining sustainable.
“If it’s bad water, are my cows going to perform? No,” Schleisman said. “So we do everything we can to make sure the land and the water are treated right. You’ve got to work with what Mother Nature gives you and use it smart.

“On all my irrigated fields, I have soil probes that go four feet deep,” he said. The probes help track moisture levels in the soil and determine how much water crops are actually using each day.
“When I apply water with the irrigation pivot, I know how much I apply, and I don’t apply excess, because if you apply excess, it’s only going to hurt the crop, because more water is going to leave the field.”
Reusing rainfall
Schleisman’s sustainable practices don’t stop there; he uses water reuse to ensure efficiency and quality.
“We’re capturing some of that surface water that’s leaving the farm in a pool, a pond, a miniature lake or whatever you want to call it,” Schleisman said. He uses that water to irrigate his field rather than letting it immediately run into the stream.
That reuse system serves more than one purpose. Schleisman said storing runoff in on-farm ponds allows nutrients to be reduced through natural processes before the water is reused for irrigation or released back into nearby waterways.
“That storage has two benefits,” he said. “One, it gives us some water to irrigate with. But it also improves the water quality before it goes into the stream.”
According to Schleisman, water that enters the storage pools with higher nutrient levels often leaves cleaner due to natural biological processes.
“Nitrogen will actually volatilize and leave the water, or the aquatic plants will cycle those nutrients and tie them up,” he said. 

Schleisman’s reuse is part of a broader effort to ensure that water supports both agricultural production and surrounding ecosystems. “The least amount of water I can run, the better for me, the better for my crew, and the better for sustainability.”
Efficiency saves money
For smaller farmers, including Wikner and Ryan, water conservation is less about regulation and more about responsibility to their land, animals, and livelihoods.
“Everybody’s trying to be more efficient with their water, because you have to pay to have the liquid removed from the pits underneath as waste,” Wikner said. Modern hog barns commonly use nipple drinkers and wet-dry feeders that produce
water only when an animal activates them, thus reducing overall waste and spillage.
Ryan echoed that mindset, explaining that minimizing water waste is part of routine maintenance on his farm.

“We don’t want to waste, because if we do waste, then it winds up in the pit and you’re going to have to go haul it,” he said. “It also waters down the manure, which is fertilizer.”
State officials monitoring water use
Water scarcity has not yet become an immediate concern in Iowa, but trends in usage and climate variability still require attention, Anderson said.
“In general, the trend is an increase of about five percent every year,” Anderson said.
“It’s not a huge problem, but it’s a potential problem.” Public concern around water use continues to shape the conversation, even as farmers emphasize their connection to the land and surrounding communities.
Mark Schleisman and his wife pose with a Good Farm Neighbor Award, recognizing efforts to maintain positive relationships with nearby communities amid ongoing conversations about agricultural water use.
“We live in the same area as everybody else…We’re just trying to raise safe, healthy food and raise our families in the same place,” Wikner said.
For Schleisman, responding to that concern means staying open to change, avoiding complacency, and acknowledging that sustainability is never finished, even in a state where water remains relatively abundant.
“I encourage everybody to do better.”