Iowa water users to be charged $135 fee

URBANDALE – Waters users in Iowa are going to see a spurt in the fees the state charges them to access lakes, rivers and other sources beginning Dec. 1.

The state Environmental Protection Commission agreed unanimously this week to charge a $135 annual fee for the more than 3,000 entities that hold use and allocation permits.

For years, water users in Iowa have been assessed $25 for a permit spanning up to 10 years if they used 25,000 gallons of water in a single day during the year. But lawmakers last year authorized the state Department of Natural Resources to collect up to an additional $500,000 in fees each fiscal year.

The new annual fee is designed to cover DNR costs associated with reviewing applications and issuing permits, ensuring compliance with the permit terms and resolving water interference complaints, according to the authorizing legislation.

“We're going from essentially nothing up to a half-million dollars,” said Wayne Gieselman, administrator of the DNR's environmental services division, who noted the $25 fee for 10 years generated less than $8,000 a year for the department.

The additional money will allow DNR staff in the water quality program to look at competing water uses and to do more science-based study of the state's water quantity and quality needs. About 80 percent of surface water consumer in Iowa is used by industry.

Charles Corell, chief of the DNR's water quality bureau, said his staff will be able to do more detailed reviews of water usage and identify potential conflicts that could adversely affect aquifers or other water sources in specific locations.

“It's a matter of sharing what water we have more equitably,” said Corell, who noted that Iowa has an ample water supply but has isolated areas where shortages or competing uses have caused conflicts.

Corell said there was some push back from irrigators concerned they will be paying the same yearly fee as heavy-use industries such as power plants. But generally Iowa's water use stakeholders are agreeable with the new yearly fee for the water use and allocation program, he added.

The $135 annual fee with generate about $415,000, based on the number of active permits. Each permit holder will pay the yearly fee, which will not be prorated and will not be refundable.

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