Reaching Legal Impasse, Iowa Utility Plans $15 Million Nutrient Removal Facility
By Sara Jerome,
@sarmje
Des Moines Water Works tried to compel the agricultural sector to pay more for nutrient pollution cleanup, but the attempt ended in failure. Now the utility plans to invest heavily in addressing the problem on its own.
The utility “expects to spend $15 million to double the size of its nitrate removal facility to handle growing levels of the compound from the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers. Utility officials say the new equipment and the cost to operate it will mean bigger rate increases for customers in coming years,” The Des Moines Register reported.
The utility's board approved an $800,000 contract with CH2M to design the facility expansion, the report said.
Des Moines Water Works had sued agricultural drainage districts in hopes of compelling them to shoulder more of the burden for nutrient removal. The case was dismissed.
“Federal Judge Leonard Strand dismissed all of Water Works' claims against drainage districts in Sac, Buena Vista and Calhoun counties, determining that Iowa's water quality problems are an issue for the Iowa legislature to resolve,” The Des Moines Register reported in March.
As the utility hits an apparent legal dead end, nitrate levels in local rivers continue to rise.
“According to a 2016 report from CH2M, the same consultant hired to design the facility expansion, nitrate concentrations in the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers have been increasing and are expected to continue to rise,” The Des Moines Register reported.
Water Works CEO Bill Stowe commented in the report: "Now that the lawsuit is gone ... we have to presume the trend will continue upward not downward."
The utility will now expand equipment originally constructed in 1991.
“The original nitrate facility was constructed for $4.1 million. It has eight large tanks that can process 10 million gallons of water per day and are used when nitrate levels are so high that there's not enough water to dilute the compounds. The utility turned on the equipment for the first time this year on [in May],” the Associated Press reported.
For similar stories visit Water Online’s Nutrient Removal Solutions Center.