Iowa DNR looks to revamp long-running stream monitoring program

For more than 25 years, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has been testing the water at dozens of sites in rivers and streams across the state.

Changes to the monitoring program may be on the horizon.

Ken Krier, environmental specialist with the Iowa DNR’s Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Section, is hoping to revamp the Ambient Stream Monitoring program to strengthen it amid continued and growing concern about the state’s water quality.

How does the DNR’s ambient stream program work?

The ambient stream testing program, which launched in October 1999, has evolved over the years. While it has tested water at as many as 84 sites, it currently tests at 60 sites across the state on a monthly basis.

Krier said nearly all the 60 testing locations are situated near water quality sensors that are owned and operated by the U.S. Geological Survey, so the data from both agencies can be paired together.

“It's just to capture the ambient condition of the streams and hopefully find something meaningful,” Krier said.

The program tests for about 24 nutrients and parameters, including dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, phosphorus and nitrogen levels in the water.

Krier said the testing occurs during the first or second week of every month, “rain or shine, drought or flood.”

The DNR’s program is different from the Iowa Water Quality Information System, or IWQIS, which is operated by the IIHR—Hydroscience & Engineering department at the University of Iowa. IWQIS collects information from about 70 water sensors — 53 of which are owned and operated by UI — that are positioned in rivers and streams across the state. The sensors measure things like nitrate, pH, temperature and dissolved oxygen concentrations, sending data back to the lab every 15 minutes for near real-time data.

The UI sensors could be removed if the program isn’t able to find about $600,000 per year to keep it going. Since 2012, it had been funded by the Iowa Legislature, but in 2023 those funds were reallocated and funneled to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. “Bridge” funding, which has kept the program going since 2023, will end in July.

The DNR’s ambient stream program relies on water sampling done by the State Hygienic Laboratory’s limnology staff, who are contracted by the DNR. Krier said contracting work to other research institutions is typical for several of the DNR’s monitoring programs.

A program revamp

Since 2001, the DNR has received a $3 million annual allocation from the Iowa Legislature through the Environment First Fund for its water quality monitoring work.

According to the state’s non-partisan Legislative Services Agency, the annual $3 million in funding is used for research, administration of the program, and operation of monitoring sites across the state. In addition to stream monitoring, the funding pays for work to monitor beaches, groundwater, wetlands, and other sites.

In addition to the ambient stream testing that’s already being done, Krier said he would like to incorporate tests for other contaminants, like pharmaceuticals, pesticides and metal. However, the cost for those tests is “extremely high,” so the agency can’t afford to test for them monthly, he said.

Krier said he has tried including those tests on a quarterly basis, but that hasn’t come to fruition.

Now, he’s trying to strengthen the program to where they can include testing for those contaminants on a rotating yearly system.

  Buy Photo

For example, he said one year they could test for metals, the following year they could test for pesticides and year three they could focus on pharmaceuticals.

“We would have an every-five-year type of thing, rather than doing a quarterly monitoring schedule for those.” Krier said.

To revamp the program, Krier has also “cleaned up” all 60 sites statewide, to make sure all of the testing locations will still produce meaningful data and are identified correctly.

Under the Clean Water Act, all states are required to have water quality standards in place and monitor major surface waters and regulate pollutant discharges into U.S. waterways.

Krier said this program fulfills that requirement under the Clean Water Act, which was signed into law in October 1972.

Krier said he is looking to revamp the program to make sure the DNR has “broader and better coverage” of the state’s waterways by “scrutinizing how many sites are tested, where the sites are located and what job they're doing."

By looking at all of the state’s watersheds, which drain into the border rivers — the Big Sioux, Missouri, Mississippi and Des Moines — Krier said the DNR can use stream flow data and nutrient concentrations to calculate pollution loads, which he said would be important for measuring progress through Iowa’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy.

  Buy Photo

Krier said the next step in the revamp is looking at the locations of monitoring sites across Iowa’s watersheds, as some have multiple sites when one site at the outlet would capture the same information.

His goal is to move toward one primary site per watershed to improve statewide coverage, while keeping some existing sites on a limited basis to preserve long-term data. Krier said that would give researchers a better picture of overall water conditions across Iowa and how nutrients flow into the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.

He said the DNR plans to propose these changes in a new contract to the Environmental Protection Commission, likely in October or November.

Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. She is also a contributing writer for the Ag and Water Desk, an independent journalism collaborative focusing on the Mississippi River Basin.

Sign up for our curated, weekly environment & outdoors newsletter.

Comments: olivia.cohen@thegazette.com