Utility Boss Slams Iowa's Nitrate Plan

A utility manager recently called out Iowa's strategy for nutrient reduction as failing and misguided.

"Iowa's policy to address national water pollution — the nutrient reduction strategy — continues to fail, despite the public relations investment of its many industrial agriculture advocates and many Iowa policy makers," William Stowe, the general manager of Des Moines Water Works, wrote in a recent Des Moines Register editorial.

He says that nitrate levels are higher than ever in Iowa.

"September 2014 set another record for Des Moines Water Works and our 500,000 water customers. This is the first September, since at least 1974, in which Des Moines Water Works recorded an average nitrate concentration in the Raccoon River above the Environmental Protection Agency's drinking water standard of 10 mg/l," Stowe wrote.

Rivers near Des Moines are highly polluted, according to the Associated Press.

"Two rivers that supply water to 500,000 people in the Des Moines area show nitrate levels spiking to levels that make it unsafe for some to drink, a concentration experts haven't before seen in the fall that likely stems from especially wet weather in recent months," the AP reported in November.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2014/11/21/3827198/des-moines-struggling-with-nitrates.html#storylink=cpy

Stowe said that the numbers make one thing clear: Policymakers must question the efficacy of voluntary measures for industrial agriculture.

"Until industrial agriculture is no longer exempt from regulations needed to protect water quality, we will continue to see water quality degrade and our consumers will continue to pay," he wrote.

Higher nitrate levels mean customers pay more, Stowe noted.

"In 2013, Des Moines Water Works suffered record nitrate concentrations in both the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, costing ratepayers nearly an additional $1 million in treatment costs, as well as putting the safety of tap water to consumers at risk," he wrote.

Not everyone is disillusioned with Iowa's nitrate plans. Farm interests have spoken out in favor of the plan. The Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance, headquartered at the Iowa Soybean Association, supports the plan.

"The strategy is a science-based initiative to reduce nitrate and phosphorus loads in Iowa waterways by 45 percent from point and nonpoint sources. The coordinated, bi-partisan approach to reduce nutrient loads is the most significant catalyst for improving environmental performance in Iowa in a generation. State lawmakers overwhelmingly approved $22.4 million to support the strategy in the spring of 2013," the group says.

For more on nutrient removal, check out Water Online's Nutrient Removal Solution Center.