Clean water rules move ahead in Iowa

DES MOINES – A legislative panel – with Gov. Chet Culver's support -- gave the initial green light today to federally required clean water rules state officials hope will reduce future pollution of Iowa waterways.

Iowa's anti-degradation policy is intended to protect existing uses of surface water for fishing and recreational uses, while providing ways for state regulators to address situations that might adversely impact water quality.

The Legislature's Administrative Rules Review Committee turned back an objections by opponents who worried the new process to limit pollution might saddle cities, industry or rural water systems with additional costs to comply with the new guidelines.

“The department has not established any real good track record in terms of lowering costs,” said Sen. Merlin Bartz, R-Grafton, who called the proposed changes unreasonable and worried it would continue to “fester” divisions over water quality regulations.

DNR Director Rich Leopold said the painstaking task of bringing together stakeholders within the regulated community, environmentalists and state regulators to adopt workable clean water rules could serve as an example for the rest of the nation.

State officials stressed the rules would not impact existing systems and only would impact situations where there is an increased degradation in water quality.

Leopold noted that it could take up to six months for the federal Environmental Protection Agency to rule on the proposed state standards that have been the subject of what one lawmaker characterized as “range wars” for at least 15 years.

“These rules do not put an undo burden on anybody,” said Wally Taylor, legal counsel for the Sierra Club Iowa chapter.

In an unusual move, Culver sent a letter to the legislative committee expressing his “strong support” for implementing an anti-degradation policy that he said could “potentially yield enormous benefits” for water-related activities that support thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity.

“Clearly, there is an evolving consensus in Iowa that we can and must do everything reasonably possible to protect our waters, streams and lakes,” said the governor, who noted there currently are $250 million worth of projects under way to improve water treatment facilities and other efforts that will improve the quality of life in Iowa.

Advocates said the rules will prevent further pollution of lakes, rivers and streams and also provide extra protections for high-quality waters in the West Lake Okoboji area in northwest Iowa and several trout streams in northeast Iowa.