Protect our drinking water

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is preparing to rescind a water quality improvement plan on a stretch of the Cedar River designed to shield Cedar Rapids’ drinking water supply from unhealthy levels of nitrate contamination. We believe this would be a mistake, and we urge the agency to keep the plan in place.

The plan, which regulates the total maximum daily load, or TMDL, of nitrate that can be discharged into the river by water and wastewater treatment facilities, has been in place since 2006. According to reporting by The Gazette’s Brittney Miller, the DNR is preparing to declare that the Cedar River between Palo and Cedar Rapids is no longer impaired by nitrate, allowing the agency to drop the plan.

This is despite the fact that a water testing gauge at Palo showed nitrate levels on the Cedar River above the federally mandate safe drinking water limit of 10 milligrams per liter on at least 40 days this year. Most of the nitrate found in the river comes from cropland, but the Clean Water Act only permits regulation of point-source pollution from facilities.

As new facilities were added to the watershed since 2006, the DNR contends the TMDL plan has become “outdated” and difficult to enforce. According to Allen Bonini, the former watershed improvement section supervisor for the DNR, who retired in 2021, staff have turned a blind eye to facilities exceeding their TMDL requirements.

“The reaction was something to the effect of, ‘Well, we're not going to worry about it unless somebody brings it to our attention or somebody complains about it,’” Bonini told Miller. “To me, that kind of reflects the cultural attitude that often happened there. That was, ‘Hear no evil, see no evil.’”

That’s not acceptable when the safety of drinking water is at stake. Nor is it acceptable to simply declare the river clean and dump the TMDL plan. The DNR says Cedar Rapidians can now rely on the state’s Nutrient Reduction plan, and entirely voluntary effort to convince farmers and landowners to adopt water quality conservation practices. That’s not good enough, considering the voluntary approach has done little to improve water quality.

Nitrate contamination carries health risks in concentrations about 10 milligrams per liter, including blue baby syndrome. But a growing body of research points to the possibility that long exposure even at lower levels can cause cancer and other chronic conditions.

The DNR has no business cutting corners on the safety of drinking water. If the TMDL plan needs changes or must be rewritten, so be it. But what should not change at all is the plan’s commitment to protecting drinking water. It should be the DNR’s highest priority.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com