DNR: Monticello mobile home park lacks proper drinking water

An Eastern Iowa mobile home park has failed for more than a year to ensure its drinking water is safe, and state regulators recently ordered it to provide bottled water to its residents.

Montipark, of Monticello, must also pay a $10,000 fine, according to an Iowa Department of Natural Resources order.

The mobile home park has operated for more than four decades on the northeast edge of town and has about 20 trailer homes and three houses, according to county records.

The site has two wells that supply water for about 35 residents. One well is 150-feet deep, and the other — which has historically been used sparingly as a backup — has an unknown depth and is located in the basement of one of the houses, according to DNR records.

William Shadbolt, of Seattle, Washington, bought the park in 2020. Another person manages the site. Regular monthly testing of its drinking water for nitrate and bacteria contamination ceased in April 2022, the DNR order said.

“Mr. Shadbolt’s repeated and chronic failure to comply with the laws related to the operation of the system is a serious matter that has resulted in health concerns for the residents supplied water by the system,” the order said.

Shadbolt told the Iowa Capital Dispatch that he has rectified problems with the water system in recent months and that the fine is a result of a lack of communication.

“If there’s health and safety issues, I feel like I’ve always taken care of it as promptly as I could,” he said.

Periodic testing of the water by the DNR has detected elevated levels of nitrate, the presence of bacteria, and a total lack of chlorine, which is required to disinfect the water.

A DNR officer went to the site in September 2022 after numerous unsuccessful attempts to contact Shadbolt about the status of the park’s water system.

Tests of the water detected bacteria, and the officer discovered that the backup well was being operated as the sole source of water, in violation of the water system’s permit. Further, that well was connected to the supply system so that its water flowed the wrong direction through a treatment system.

“It is unclear if any nitrate removal is occurring,” the officer noted in a report about the inspection.

The department issued an advisory to residents that suggested they drink bottled water.

DNR staff returned to the site in July and September 2023 and found that the situation was largely unchanged. The July inspection noted that one of four bolts from the primary well’s cap was missing. Caps that aren’t sufficiently tight can allow contaminants into a well.

Anne Lynam, a senior environmental specialist for the DNR, said it has been difficult to gauge the health risk to residents because of an overall lack of testing, but she is unaware of anyone getting sick because of the water. She did not know whether residents have been drinking bottled water.

Shadbolt said he fixed the primary well and replumbed the system so that water is flowing in the correct direction after the September 2023 DNR visit. He said someone is regularly testing the water to ensure there is sufficient chlorine to disinfect it for consumption.

But Lynam said the mobile home park still is failing to sample the water monthly for nitrate and bacteria, and that it did not test for other contaminants such as lead and copper last year.

The recent DNR order requires Shadbolt to provide bottled water to the residents, hire a certified operator to manage the water system, bring the system into compliance and reply to future communications from the DNR within a week of receipt.

Shadbolt has about two months to pay the $10,000 fine, but he said he will likely appeal the order. That is the largest fine the DNR can issue administratively.

He said Montipark has safe drinking water and that providing bottled water isn’t necessary.

This article first appeared in the Iowa Capital Dispatch.