Cleanup costs not customers’ burden

To the editor:

A lawsuit against three northwestern counties regarding the management of drainage districts that have high concentrations of nitrates has been filed by Des Moines Water Works. Too many nitrates in the water can be attributed to many things, one of which is a non sustainable way of farming. The high level of nitrates in the water, mainly the Raccoon River that is the main source of water for Des Moines, is expensive to remove causing rate increases for DMWW customers. This cost of removing the nitrates should not be the burden of the people who drink the water, it should be the burden of those who are not sustainably taking care of our earth.

The board of trustees had every legal and moral right to file this lawsuit. They are obligated to look after the best interest of its customers. The Iowa Farm Bureau will oppose this lawsuit. They will say (and, in fact, have defended themselves by saying) high levels of nitrates is the fault of Mother Nature: too wet, too dry, too cold, too hot, when the real culprit is industrial ag farming in a non-sustainable way. The Farm Bureau also will say we need to let volunteer compliance work this out. Since the Clean Water Act of 40 years ago, volunteer compliance has not worked. With the practice of a two-crop rotation system our soil is being depleted. Point is, if you do the damage, you should pay to clean it up or change farming practices.

Pat Bowen

Iowa City