Iowa’s Dirty Water

Many Grinnell alumni probably don’t dwell on the many necessities of life that we may take for granted: safe shelter, breathable air, ample food, improving transportation and communication systems, and safe drinking water. But, if you’ve ever faced a shortage of one of these aspects of your daily lives, it’s probably an experience that shapes your thoughts of the future.

Coming from the Grinnell tradition of liberal arts and community service, I did not imagine that my professional focus and contribution to the community I live in would center around safe drinking water for nearly one-half million central Iowans whom I call both customers and neighbors.

While drinking-water scarcity is a worldwide issue, often with tragic consequences in less affluent areas, perhaps the central Iowa context for drinking water provides an illustrative example. As the chief executive officer and general manager of Des Moines (Iowa) Water Works, I’m privileged to lead an organization that for nearly 150 years has turned the runoff flowing down the Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers into safe, affordable, and abundant tap water for Des Moines and the majority of residents in Polk, Dallas, Warren, and Madison counties. Water Works initially was a private water company owned by the venerable Hubbell family, then a century ago became a municipal water utility owned by Des Moines ratepayers but serving customers now scattered mostly in suburbs and more-distant area cities.

The fact that this water is drawn from rivers is a critical concern. That makes us captive of the upstream land uses in an area encompassing nearly 10,000 square miles, most of it used for agriculture.

The landscape, part of the geologic “Des Moines Lobe,” includes some of the richest farmland in the world. It is dominated by intensively fertilized row crops, mainly corn and soybeans.

That farming sets the groundwork for an environmental disaster known as “nutrient pollution” in our rivers, lakes, and streams. This overnitrification of farmland pollutes the downstream recipients of our surface waters, creating the hypoxic area, or dead zone, in the Gulf of Mexico. As Iowa’s soils erode, farmers increase fertilizer use to sustain crop yield. Runoff from these fields increasingly pollutes the water destined for central Iowa taps.

Even though our tap water supplies in the United States are considered among the safest in the world, contamination can still occur. There are many sources of contamination, including farm-chemical and manure runoff, discharges from wastewater-treatment plants, discharges from factories, and elements that occur naturally in soil. Water pipes can introduce contaminants, too.

Those pollutants can lead to health issues including gastrointestinal illness, reproductive problems, and neurological disorders. Infants, young children, pregnant women, the elderly, and immunocompromised persons may be especially susceptible to illness. So it’s important to limit contaminants and to properly remove them from source-water supplies such as the rivers. Grinnell’s tap water, which comes from the Cambrian-Ordovician aquifer, met all safety standards in the most recent annual report.

The EPA and state governments are responsible for setting and enforcing drinking-water standards in water that has been shown to pose risk to human health. Standards are set to ensure that drinking-water supplies are as safe as possible.

Water issues are far-reaching, from the quality of Des Moines’ drinking water, to healthy beaches along the Mississippi River, to the access to seafood from the Gulf of Mexico. High levels of nutrients (nitrate and phosphorus) threaten the quality of drinking water and the protection of public health across the country. Swimmers, canoeists, and kayakers can become ill or develop rashes when they come in contact with algae and cyanobacteria blooms in rivers and lakes. The economic impact to Gulf fishermen who are unable to harvest seafood in the Gulf of Mexico due to the dead zone threatens their livelihood. There is a connection between a healthy ecosystem, a robust economy, a safe population, and a sustainable quality of life for everyone.

States and numerous independent reports indicate that agriculture is the leading (nonpoint source) contributor to water quality impairments today — impairments that threaten safe drinking water and cause beach closures, loss of habitat, fish kills, and many other environmental and human health concerns. Yet we continue to rely on farmers’ voluntary, taxpayer-subsidized conservation projects, not on regulations. How long can we afford to continue to do the same thing and expect a different outcome?

It is time to engage in serious discussions locally and globally about this growing problem. These should not be sterile discussions influenced by data and statistics, although alarming data and statistics exist. Healthy source waters and agriculture can coexist. They must; both are critical to a sustainable future.