Four Mississippi River mayors spent time earlier this month in Dubai at the United Nations’ annual climate change conference, where they shared a slate of new initiatives, including natural infrastructure projects to reduce disaster risks and piloting a new regional insurance system to support Mississippi River towns.
As extreme weather grows more extreme with climate change, it costs our economies, communities and personal health.
Historic low flows turned the Mississippi River into a construction area in 2023, as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged huge quantities of sand to keep the channel open for barge traffic. Massive machines like the Dredge Goetz, a 225-foot-long vessel with a suction pipe nearly two feet wide, were moving through the river constantly to keep it clear.
The Iowa DNR has filed nearly 100 enforcement actions so far this year against companies or individuals who violated Iowa laws designed to protect Iowa’s environment. Cities and counties also work to stop discharges and hold offenders accountable. Critics say there isn’t enough enforcement and the fines are too small to deter future violations.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service selected two Iowa projects for the funds, which stem from the Inflation Reduction Act
The Linn County city has agreed to pay a $4,000 fine for not keeping sediment from sewer construction running off and entering a tributary of Hoosier Creek.
Several Eastern Iowa communities are passing ordinances requiring commercial properties to install backflow prevention systems. Without valves, a loss of pressure in public water lines could result in chemicals, wastewater or biological liquids flowing into drinking water systems.
The Eastern Iowa Airport will buy a residential property south of the airport because of concerns the groundwater there is contaminated by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
Prairie Farms Dairy has agreed to pay $10,000 -- the maximum penalty the Iowa Department of Natural Resources may enforce -- for exceeding wastewater discharge limits 139 times between 2018 and 2022 at its cheese manufacturing facility near Monona.
The catch — the largest of its kind to date in Wisconsin and Minnesota — was made possible by tagging previously caught fish and throwing them back. Those fish were tracked to find and capture 323 silver, grass and bighead carp.
The Nature Calls: Author had always wanted an opportunity to hunt with houndsmen
Iowa’s year-to-date average precipitation is now 25.4 inches — about 8 inches below normal, according to the Iowa DNR.
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