Linn County to draft comprehensive water quality plan

CEDAR RAPIDS — Linn County staff hope to take a “proactive” approach to water quality through the development of a new comprehensive management plan.

The Linn County Comprehensive Water Quality Management and Mitigation Plan will bring together a cross-departmental team to review the county’s water resources and identify action steps toward future improvements.

Per a public presentation from Linn County Sustainability Director Cara Matteson, that team will utilize the knowledge of county staff in tandem with available data and feedback from public and private area stakeholders to draft the plan over the next six to 12 months.

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“We’re being proactive here and strategizing on where we want to go the most effectively,” Matteson said. “We intend to build on current internal collaborations … to better understand how our goals can best align and establish joint priority items.”

Matteson said the plan will cover “all aspects of water resources” including topics related to water quality, available surface and groundwater resources, flooding concerns, aquifer management and more.

Linn County Supervisor Kirsten Running-Marquardt said many county departments already do work related to water quality in various capacities, whether it be sustainability, conservation, public health or planning and development.

By bringing those staff members together in a more standardized fashion and under a shared goal, Running-Marquardt said the hope is to “break out of silos” and allow for better collaboration and planning moving forward.

“We have so many great departments here in the county that are doing amazing water quality and water mitigation work,” she said. “And we just thought we could really do well … by the people of Linn County to come up with one comprehensive plan.”

That plan will be further informed by the data gathered as part of three new water quality studies to be commissioned on the county’s behalf.

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The three-member Linn County Board of Supervisors this week unanimously approved funding those studies using up to $150,000 in rollover funds from the prior fiscal year.

The first study will be an aquifer vulnerability map to highlight areas of the county based upon various parameters such as groundwater recharge potential, containment risk and typical groundwater usage.

The second is a contaminant plume map that will compile known groundwater plumes — meaning bodies of contaminated groundwater — to map the extent of those plumes and any overlapping impacts.

The third study will include a surface water sampling assessment meant to compile available spatial coverage, summarize water quality factors and provide recommendations for filling any data gaps, among other sustainable management recommendations.

Matteson told supervisors that the three studies were identified and vetted by the county’s internal watershed coordination team, which includes representatives from various county departments.

“The comprehensive plan will align with our goals and identify critical needs to ensure that countywide strategic outcomes are being met,” Matteson said. These three datasets “are examples of the studies that will assist in that process.”

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