Water Works: Lawsuit would offer 'reset button'

By Graham Gillette and Bill Stowe

The Des Moines Water Works board of trustees voted unanimously on Jan. 8 to pursue legal action under the citizen suit provision of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, commonly known as the Clean Water Act. Des Moines Water Works did so only after exhausting every reasonable effort to engage in productive dialogue about the increasing presence of agricultural pollution in the water supply. It is our belief and great hope that such dialogue can still occur, and we stand ready to be a part of the solution.

For the last decade nitrate levels in both the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers, the primary source of water for the approximately 500,000 people we serve, have been peaking at concentrations and loadings dangerous to humans. For even longer, Des Moines Water Works representatives have been engaged in discussions and have served on numerous study commissions, task forces and similar cooperative efforts with the state of Iowa, local governments, businesses, agricultural interests, academia, citizen groups and individuals to explore ways to stem this threat to Iowa and Iowans.

Efforts such as these are only successful when those who begin on opposite sides of an issue are able to put their own interests aside and acknowledge the difficulties their counterparts face. Unfortunately, Iowa's voluntary Nutrient Reduction Strategy places agriculture's interests first. Under this scheme, the people of Iowa are left to blindly trust that those upstream are taking steps to improve water quality. The state has been unwilling to put even regular monitoring and testing measures in place to show if its so-called strategy is working.

We acknowledge and honor the important role agriculture plays in Iowa. Further, we understand reducing nitrate and agriculture pollution in our waterways is a difficult issue that will not be solved in 60 months, let alone 60 days. Contrary to Gov. Terry Branstad's assertion, the lawsuit we intend to pursue is not the first shot fired in some fictitious war between Des Moines and rural Iowa. It is an effort to push a reset button on the unproductive discussions of recent years.

Des Moines Water Works is seeking agreement on a few simple facts and that entities such as agricultural drainage districts be subject to reasonable standards. If necessary, we are prepared to ask the courts to help mediate this matter, but we remain ready to seek solutions in less litigious ways.

It is important to remember that this issue is not about run-off from farm fields. Today's highly engineered and increasingly efficient drainage districts in our watershed move groundwater infused with nitrate from intensive agriculture operations directly through a complex system of pipes to the stream heads and rivers that serve as the water source for a large portion of our state. If left to its natural course, much of this groundwater would never move into rivers and streams and that which does would be filtered through a natural process that would reduce the nitrate concentration considerably.

Dumping polluted groundwater into the waterways is causing significant environmental damage and putting people downstream at risk. Des Moines Water Works is asking that drainage districts seek and receive the same permit other entities do and that the water being handled by drainage districts be required to meet reasonable standards before being dumped into the water system we all rely upon to survive.

Des Moines Water Works has been running its costly de-nitrification facility since Dec. 4 to meet safe drinking standards. Operating this facility at this time of year is unprecedented. Should the nitrate levels continue to trend upwards in the years to come, Des Moines Water Works will be forced to replace this facility to meet the Des Moines area's water needs. Current estimates show such a facility will cost between $76 million and $183 million. The lawsuit we are contemplating involves much more than dollars. However, potential costs such as these and the ones that have been incurred and are being incurred cannot be minimized.

We stand ready to engage in any effort and discussion aimed at reducing pollutants in Iowa's water system. However, we would be shirking our responsibility if we did not take action to protect the interests of those we serve.

###

This entry was first published in the print edition of the Des Moines Register. 
Graham Gillette can be reached at grahamgillette@gmail.com