There’s no doubt that work must be done to clean up Iowa’s lakes, streams and rivers.

Therefore, it’s always good news when an effort to do just that gets started. Some of that good news arrived this week when state Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig announced 19 projects across the state will get money from the Iowa Water Quality Initiative.

A total of $618,000 was awarded.

The Iowa Water Quality Initiative was established in 2013 to help implement the Nutrient Reduction Strategy, which is a science and technology based approach to achieving a 45 percent reduction in nitrogen and phosphorous losses to the state’s waters.

The Calhoun County Soil and Water Conservation District is one of the grant recipients. The district’s effort is called the Lake Creek Water Quality Planning and Development Project. The grant money will be spent to support technical assistance and one-on-one landowner contacts to assess the viability of Nutrient Reduction Strategy practices.

”These projects are perfect examples of what we can accomplish when rural and urban citizens and public and private partners all work together to implement conservation practices,” Naig said.

Will the efforts Naig announced solve all the state’s water quality problems? Certainly not. But they will help.

The problems that plague the state’s waters didn’t develop overnight and they won’t be fixed overnight, either.

That’s why the recently announced projects are important. They are part of a bigger effort that Iowa must keep working on.

We have strongly supported efforts to clean up Iowa’s water. Such work benefits everyone.

These projects are no exception. We thank all the partners involved in these 19 projects for their dedication to a cleaner state for all Iowans.