The US Environmental Protection Agency recently rejected the 2024 draft list of Iowa’s impaired waterways. It directed the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to add seven segments to the list because of high nitrate levels. The DNR resisted adding those waters, and the EPA is now seeking public comments.
Please urge the EPA to require the DNR take Iowa’s water quality seriously and include these seven polluted waterbodies. All comments are due by Thursday, December 19.
Every two years the DNR is required to submit a draft 303d list of Iowa’s impaired waterways to the EPA for its approval. Water segments that don’t fully support all their designated uses (drinking water, recreation, protection of all aquatic life, etc.) require a plan to reduce and remove the pollutants called a total maximum daily load (TMDL).
This year’s assessment found 577 water segments are polluted enough to require a TMDL.* The EPA is calling for the DNR to add segments of the Des Moines, Raccoon, Cedar, Iowa and South Skunk Rivers to the list and require a TMDL for each. These water segments were found to have nitrate levels exceeding the EPA’s limits of 10 mg/L.
But the DNR disputes the EPA’s findings and says it won’t change its faulty and inconsistent methods to measure nitrates.
High levels of nitrates are a danger to human health. Levels over 10 mg/L can cause fatal blue baby syndrome and have been linked to a variety of cancers including colorectal, kidney, ovarian, stomach and thyroid cancers as well as birth defects.
The DNR should add these water bodies and create a plan to mitigate these high nitrate levels in order to protect public health.
Please take a moment to send your public comments to the EPA. Click here for a sample letter with more information on the issue. All comments should be sent by Thursday, December 19 to R7-WaterDivision@epa.gov.
Urge the EPA to require the DNR to do its job to protect you and all Iowans from toxic water!
*A total of 712 waterbodies are categorized as impaired but not all have pollutant levels reaching the threshold requiring a TMDL.
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