116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Home / News / Government & Politics / Campaigns & Elections
Western Iowa residents express concerns about water quality, shortages during roundtable
Gubernatorial candidate and Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand, at campaign event, says ‘Government is supposed to work for everybody’
Maya Marchel Hoff, Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau
Jun. 3, 2025 6:54 pm
The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
EXIRA — For nearly a month, residents of Exira and a handful of other towns in western Iowa were under a water boil advisory.
In early May, the Regional Water Rural Water Association in Avoca warned residents in multiple counties, including Shelby, Audubon, Cass, Harrison and northern Pottawattamie counties, to conserve their water during a drought. Then, on May 10, Regional Water directed them to boil water after its distribution system lost pressure, which could lead to bacterial contamination.
Although the boil advisory was lifted Tuesday, those in Exira remain concerned about the state of the town’s water sourcing and when they will be under a similar advisory next as they have faced water shortages and contamination issues in the past.
The water quality concerns in this corner of the state were highlighted during a roundtable held by Democratic Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand’s gubernatorial campaign Tuesday afternoon at the Exira Public Library, where he spoke to local residents and officials.
“It's not even just affecting the potential health of our community, it's affecting jobs,” Exira City Council member Nathan Wahlert said. “We have ag communities that depend on water supply. We have employees at the gas station that haven't been at work for three weeks because they can't cook. We have car washes that are closed.”
Exira residents Blake and Claire Asberry plan to open a coffee shop and produce market in town after they finish construction in the next few months, but said boil advisories in the future would impact their ability to stay open.
“We would not be able to serve coffee because our ice would be contaminated, and … the water that feeds all the espresso machines, it has to be as pure as it gets,” Blake Asberry said.
“We've spent a lot of time, research, money, you know, everything on getting that up and going,” Claire Asberry added. “It's a bummer to know that we are just in the situation.”
And Emmy Benton, who lives roughly a mile outside Exira, said, along with other residents, her water stopped running for a period of time last month, which made things more complicated with a newborn at home.
“We've only lived there for four years, and that's not the first time we've had dry pipes with nothing,” Benton said.
Exira has been in a 20-year contract with the Regional Water Rural Water Association since 2005 and has been under at least "Level Yellow" water conservation directory since May 2023. “Level Yellow” suggests not using water for some activities, including watering gardens or washing cars. It also includes not filling up pools or using water for street cleaning.
Exira city officials and residents say they have faced regulatory hurdles in figuring out a solution to the town’s water shortage and contamination.
“That was an eye-opening situation to a lot of communities, not just ours, of how very vulnerable we are in this source situation,” Exira City Clerk Meg Andersen said.
Sand, who announced his run for governor in May after Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds announced in April that she is not seeking re-election, asked the roundtable participants how the state government can assist them as they continue to face regulatory hurdles.
Andersen said that while more attention on the issue from the state would help, she added that the regulatory hurdles are beyond what the state government can assist with.
“What the true path forward is on that, or how you actually achieve that, feels unattainable at this point, just based on the regulations and protocols and regulatory agencies that are involved, you know, that's what feels like has been the uphill fight,” Andersen said. “You have to wait for someone to approve a testing plan … We've been fortunate to expedite that through our situation recently, but just the amount that exists in that kind of regulatory fashion, it gets very difficult when you're in a small situation like this.”
Regional Water is constructing a pipe from Council Bluffs to rural Pottawattamie County to pump water from the Missouri River, according to KETV. But those who live in the area still are concerned about contaminated water.
Exira and the nearby town of Brayton recently filed a joint letter to the Regional Water board asking for more answers.
Sand, who said he wanted to hold the roundtable to bring more attention to the issue in Exira, thinks it’s important for government officials to focus on the issues Iowans face rather than focusing on partisan politics.
“Anyone in Iowa that's facing problems like this should have their problems fixed. Government is supposed to work for everybody, and one of the most important things for it to do is find people or communities, entire communities, that are in crisis,” Sand said.
A slate of other candidates have thrown their hats into the ring for the governor’s office, including former Republican state lawmaker Brad Sherman, of Williamsburg, and Democrat Julie Stauch, of West Des Moines. Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, who represents Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, launched an exploratory campaign for the seat last month, as did Republican Iowa State Sen. Mike Bousselot, of Ankeny.