‘At the core of everything’: How 4 studies will showcase water quality, quantity in Linn County

CEDAR RAPIDS — Linn County staff intend to work with area researchers to complete four water studies over the next year to better shape future water management practices.

The Linn County Board of Supervisors earlier this month approved a $130,000 contract with the University of Iowa to complete three studies around surface water sampling and groundwater mapping.

The county also is seeking a partner to complete a separate study around water quantity in the area and potential impacts from industrial development.

Separately, each study provides key insights into the county’s water resources. Combined, they can act as “the backbone” of the county’s future water management plans.

Linn County Sustainability Director Cara Matteson sat down with The Gazette to speak about those different research efforts and how they will be used moving forward.

The following has been edited for length and clarity.

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Q: Take me back to when discussions about these studies first started, what was the conversation like and what really spurred the county to take this on?

A: For me, water is at the core of everything. All of this is tied together with the county trying to be comprehensive with projects in general and to look at it from the sustainability perspective … of people, planet and profit.

It really started with having some internal conversations about funding opportunities. There’s always more projects on the horizon than money we can spend, so we’re trying to utilize the funds (we do have) in the best way to hit a lot of different targets with one funding stream.

We wanted to make sure that we were being as strategic as possible to stretch those dollars as far as they can and get the biggest bang for our buck.

Q: How did you pick which studies would meet that goal?

A: Really, it just organically happened. We had this internal watershed group that had been meeting for about a year or so with managers from different departments and we were talking internally about what we were working on.

We put all these potential projects on a list and we started documenting what kinds of things we would want if there was some funding that comes our way. We put it on a priority list … so when funding became available we had those three projects that we’d already determined were kind of low-hanging fruit.

We call them the backbone projects because once they’re done, we can look at what the findings are to help guide us in what the next steps should be or the next project to take action on.

Q: Staff identified three of those “backbone projects,” but let's go through them one at a time. The first is an aquifer vulnerability study — what’s that?

A: (An aquifer vulnerability assessment) is a map that the U.S. Geological Survey would pull together to identify where … groundwater is vulnerable to impacts from what’s happening on the land’s surface.

Researchers can connect known soils from different locations to develop what’s essentially a soil layer.

That layer in combination with identifying what wells are out there and how much they’re pumping and based on different types of land use will form the vulnerability map by showcasing where the vulnerabilities are on the land surface to impact groundwater.

The map also will be connected to (information on) recharge potential, or where you could put water back into the ground to recharge the groundwater system.

Q: That seems related to the second study, the contaminant plume map. Tell me more about that one.

A: This is an exercise that is going to create two different maps for us. One will be a map that showcases known sites of where (contaminant) plumes are.

Then we’ll have another map that will show, potentially, where those plumes have moved due to different pumping exercises like geothermal or from public water supply wells. It’ll show migration based on their model.

This is more for educational purposes and to look at what we have underground here. ... Then we can start making some decisions based on that. It’s a starting off point.

Q: And the third one is a little different — the surface water sampling assessment, right?

A: Yes, this one focuses on surface water while the other two were about groundwater. The surface water sampling review and recommendation is really going to be more comprehensive in nature.

There’s a lot of great water sampling work that’s happening right now through different entities. Different watershed groups are doing surface water sampling. The city of Cedar Rapids is doing some sampling and there’s some volunteer efforts that do it.

Part of the challenge is that all those jurisdictions are separate. So if you want to know what one watershed is doing, you have to know who to contact and if you want to know how another watershed is doing you have to know a different person to contact.

We’re wanting to look at everybody’s data collectively … so we can more comprehensively look at it in one spot. And then with that data, we can see if there’s any gaps.

We don’t want to reinvent the wheel. We want to see what works for others, what databases they use and ultimately try to make things more comprehensive … to showcase that data so it can be more digestible to the public in a timely way.

Q: What’s the timeline on those studies?

A: The contract with the university just started. I think it technically goes through September of next year, but the end of this fiscal year (in June of 2026) is really more the expectation.

Q: I understand the county also wants to do a water balance study and is looking for a partner on that now. Can you explain that study and how it’s different from the other three?

A: That question comes up a lot. I want to emphasize that the other three studies primarily focus on water quality. The water balance study is primarily focused on water quantity.

This question got brought up recently when a data center (developer) came to us and asked essentially if we had enough water for that kind of project or if there were any conversations happening about if we had enough water. And the answer was we just don’t know.

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The water balance study lets us see where we’re at a baseline in the county with all our different water sources to look at the water resources system holistically so decisions can be made that aren’t detrimental to that system.

Q: In closing, it seems like there’s a lot happening right now in terms of learning more about Linn County’s water resources. What excites you most about that process?

A: I’m really excited about the innovation behind Linn County doing this. We’re one of the first ones to take this plunge and do it. A lot of other states do this type of work at the state level, and I think it’s really timely for this stuff to be looked at.

I hope this can be a pilot for other counties or for other states in general on how we can better manage our water resources.

Comments: grace.nieland@thegazette.com