When you journal about Iowa’s water for a year…
CCI member Ray Harden reached out to us with his findings after observing Iowa's water crisis for a year. His words offer a comprehensive and eye-opening look at our water quality deterioration due to factory farm manure pollution.
For several months in 2015 the Des Moines Water Works, which provides drinking water for 500,000 Iowans, has been removing nitrate from the city’s drinking water at a cost of thousands of dollars each day. In the winter and spring of 2015 the nitrate levels were at record highs.
On May 14, 2015 the Iowa Department of Natural Resources added approximately 15% more streams and lakes to the polluted waters list. Now there are 725 Iowa lakes and streams on the list. In 2004 there were only 313 impaired waterways – the situation is getting worse, not better.
On June 18, 2015 the citizens of Boone, IA were told not to give the tap water to infants or infirmed adults because of the high nitrate level in the water supply.
On June 23 the Perry Water Department announced they would be adding more chlorine to the drinking water to remove the nitrite. Nitrite are formed when ammonia decomposes, the ammonia is coming from Perry’s well water. The source of the ammonia is hard to prove; some scientists say it is from agricultural fertilizer that has flowed into the ground water and some say it is natural.
Sunday, July 5 the Des Moines Register ran a front page story about high nitrate in drinking water stating that 60 Iowa towns have drinking water systems that are susceptible to nitrate pollution.
By July 13, 2015 the Iowa DNR had closed 11 swimming beaches due to high bacteria counts. Also, due to the hot weather, many lakes had algal blooms that make it dangerous to swim or fish. These blooms are greatly enhanced by fertilizers flowing into the lakes.
July 31 Gray’s Lake in Des Moines was closed to swimmers and boaters due to high amounts of E. Coli bacteria in the water, this was the second closing of the summer. One woman was hospitalized because she swam in the lake the day before the beach was closed.
August 3, 2015 a report was issued stating that the “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico is more than 1,000 square miles larger in 2015 than it was the previous year. This condition is caused by fertilizers, sewage, and soil erosion, a large percentage coming from Iowa. The report was issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
August 14 a massive fish kill occurred in the Swan Lake State Park near Carroll and the swimming beach was closed. The fish kill occurred because of low oxygen in the water due to a bloom of blue-green algae. The algal bloom was brought on by a high level of nutrients from fertilizer as well as phosphates and nitrate which are present in livestock manure that runs off into the lake.
August 15 the Des Moines Register ran a front page story about toxic algae closing Iowa beaches. 27 beaches at Iowa State Parks have closed so far this year putting families and pets at risk. This year tops the old record of 24 in 2013. The blue-green algae contains Microcystins, which are dangerous toxins produced by the algae. They’re fed by nutrients, primarily phosphates but also nitrate running off farm fields into the lakes.
On Sunday, August 23, 2015 the Des Moines Register’s lead editorial was titled Iowa’s Waterways are a Disgrace, which offered a good summary of the problem and emphasized that very little is being done by Governor Branstad’s administration. In 2014 Branstad vetoed $11.2 million for water quality improvement. His administration’s “Nutrient Reduction Strategy” is just wishful thinking because there are no standards, no goals, and no timetable for water quality improvement, it is a voluntary program.
Sunday, September 13 the Des Moines Register’s front page story Finding fixes for Nitrates was a good article explaining the cause and some possible solutions that could reduce nitrate. In every solution is a financial cost that will be incurred by the farmer, the taxpayer, or both.
At this time there are 8, 582 animal feeding operations, factory farms, in Iowa that are required to have oversight by Iowa’s DNR. That would average out to around 85 per county, so there’s likely to be one near you and more construction applications for factory farms are being filed every year.
Iowa’s 20 million plus hog population produces more than 10 billion gallons of manure every year and millions of chickens and cattle add even more. All of this manure, and other chemicals contained in the manure, is applied to farm fields and runs off into our waterways. Even worse are the manure spills, there have been 99 “documented” manure spills since 2013 and 17 manure leaks, occurring from manure storage tanks, in the first eight months of 2015. The animal livestock production industry needs more regulations and oversight to keep our water clean!
The following is a partial list of water pollution problems that occurred in 2015, this data was taken directly from the Iowa DNR website.
June 4 Harley, O’Brien County, a leak in a hog factory farm manure pit flowed into Sewer Creek, causing high ammonia readings and low oxygen in the stream.
June 30 Lee County, mercury advisory at Poll Miller Park Lake at West Point, mercury was found in largemouth bass that exceeded safe levels.
July 9 Crystal Lake near Forest City in Hancock County had a substantial fish kill due to algal blooms, boaters also complained about algae growth.
July 11 fish kill at Mason City Park due to algal bloom causing low oxygen.
July 31 Hampton, Franklin County, fish kill at Maynes Creek at Mallory Memorial Park caused by industrial waste from the Good Egg Co.
July 31 Adams County, manure spill, 15,000 gallons of toxic, liquid manure flowed into the creek but no fish kill was observed.
August 6 Lanesboro, Carroll County, Purgatory Creek, thousands of dead fish reported with no cause found.
August 6 many fish are killed along a four mile stretch of Sugar Creek near Tipton, the cause was a manure spill.
August 27 Lorimor, Union County, a manure spill from Sun Rise Pork flowed into a farm pond. Elevated levels of ammonia found, no fish had been stocked in the pond.
September 28 fish kill occurred along twenty miles of Stony Creek then flowed into the Ocheyedan River. Heavy concentrations of dead fish were found near Fostoria. The DNR found elevated levels of ammonia but the cause was not determined, however it is suspected to have come from fertilizer and/or manure.
September 29 Osceola at White Breast Creek, a few fish were killed due to grease released from a food processing plant.
September 30 Stanly, north Buchanan County, the West Branch of Pine Creek, 2 miles of dead fish were found along the stream. The pollution was traced to Jim Frye’s hog confinement where a manure pit had overflowed and entered into a tile line.
October 2 Spencer, the Iowa DNR reported one hundred and 160,000 fish killed on an 18 mile stretch of Stony Creek. The ammonia came from an egg washing chemical.
October 7 Mahaska County near Oskaloosa, a tributary of the South Skunk River was polluted with 3,000 gallons of toxic, liquid hog manure.
October 13 Allamakee County near New Albin, 1,000 gallons of hog manure was spilled into Clark Creek, 1.5 miles above the Upper Iowa River, causing a fish kill from a factory farm owned by David Weymiller.
Since March of 2015 I have been testing the water from 3 tile lines that form Spring Creek south of Perry. These tiles are from Dallas County Drainage District #62, in less than two miles the water reaches the North Raccoon River. The nitrate readings from these tiles have constantly ranged from 15 mg/L - 20 mg/L during testing from March - July of 2015.If the nitrate in drinking water is more than 10 mg/L the water is not safe for humans to drink, especially infants and infirmed adults, according to the EPA
.It is time for action, we need clean water in Iowa! More funding is needed for conservation practices and stronger regulations with full enforcement should be required to reduce nutrient runoff from farm fields. The factory farm industry needs more supervision in dealing with manure management and application to farm fields.
The farm lobby says there is no single solution to the problems, but there are conservation practices that all farmers can do to reduce nutrient runoff and protect Iowa’s water, and they have to be mandatory, not voluntary.
Buffer strips along all waterways, which are mandatory in Minnesota and Ohio
Grass waterways in farm fields
Cover crops on bare fields in the winter
No-till practices for every farmed field
Clean Water Act permits for the toxic manure discharged by factory farms
These mandatory practices are necessary to keep Iowa’s water clean and conserve Iowa’s precious topsoil.
Ray Harden, CCI Member
Perry, Iowa