Friday the 13th was a lucky day this June for the southwest Iowa city of Avoca, pop. 1,700. Restaurants along Main Street had their best week since problems with the city’s water supply began. “It was the first time we hit our standard Friday mark in weeks,” Andrea Radd, owner of Raddberry’s Bakery and Cafe, […]
Iowa Department of Natural Resources
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Lawsuit challenges Reynolds’ authority in rulemaking process
A group of Iowans is suing the State of Iowa, alleging Gov. Kim Reynolds has no authority to require agencies such as the Department of Natural Resources to adopt regulations that are less burdensome on industry. The lawsuit was filed recently in Polk County District Court by Steve Veysey, a fly fisherman and clean water […]
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Water advocates challenge DNR final decision on permit for cattle facility near Bloody Run Creek
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources issued a final action on a water-use permit to a 10,000-head cattle operation in Clayton County, following a years-long legal battle with an area environmental group. The group, Driftless Water Defenders, announced Thursday it would appeal the DNR decision to renew the permit. A group of citizens initially challenged […]
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EPA confirms additions to Iowa’s impaired waters list
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency affirmed its November decision to add seven additional segments to Iowa’s list of impaired waters, following a public comment period. EPA announced in November it had partially approved the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ assessment of surface water quality in the state and called for the inclusion of additional segments […]
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EPA adds seven segments to Iowa’s 2024 impaired water list and questions Iowa’s assessment of nitrogen pollution
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, after rejecting a portion of Iowa’s 2024 list of impaired water segments, is now seeking public comment on its decision to add seven water segments to the list. Under the Clean Water Act, states are required to assess surface-water quality and submit a report to the EPA every two years […]
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Cedar Rapids water main rupture kills more than 1,200 fish in Iowa’s only urban trout stream
More than 1,200 fish in Cedar Rapids’ McLoud Run, Iowa’s only urban trout stream, died this week after a broken water main dumped chlorinated water into the creek on Monday. McLoud Run flows for two miles through a wooded area along the Cedar Valley Nature Trail and adjacent to I-380. It has been a favorite […]
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Feds: A dozen Iowa water suppliers need to fix ‘forever chemical’ contamination
At least 12 community drinking water supplies in Iowa are unacceptably contaminated with enduring chemicals linked to various health ailments, under new restrictions announced Wednesday by federal regulators. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency implemented a new drinking water standard that limits certain perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — commonly known as PFAS or “forever chemicals” — […]
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More than half of Iowa’s tested streams and lakes are ‘impaired’
There are at least 721 water body segments in Iowa that do not meet water quality standards for recreation, public water supplies and the protection of aquatic life, according to the state Department of Natural Resources. The DNR has drafted its latest list of “impaired” waters that it is required to submit to the U.S. […]
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‘Suspicious fire’ damages Iowa’s largest sycamore; Gov. Reynolds’ opposition to CAFO rules threatens waterways
Iowa’s largest sycamore tree, which is located in a state park near Burlington, was severely damaged by a “suspicious fire,” the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said in a news release on Thursday. It’s not known if the tree, estimated to be about 350 years old, will survive. According to the DNR, a visitor […]
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Iowa state parks preserve lush corners of a landscape 98% altered by agriculture
Since the onset of Americanization during the early 1800s, Iowa’s environment has changed more than any state in the union. Over 98 percent of Iowa’s lands were altered in service of agriculture. Forever spreading fields of corn and soybeans line highway shoulders, stretching out east to west, north to south. The state ranks second to […]
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Iowa courts deliver two rare wins for environmental groups
This story originally appeared in LV Daily, Little Village’s Monday-Friday email newsletter. Sign up to have it delivered for free to your inbox. Iowa courts handed down two decisions on Friday that were wins for environmental groups looking to safeguard one of the state’s few pristine waterways, and trying to encourage Iowa’s biggest utility to […]
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The derecho destroyed one-fourth of the trees in Iowa’s forests
The Aug. 10 derecho destroyed approximately a quarter of the trees in Iowa’s forests, according to Pete Hildreth, administrator of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Conservation and Recreation Division. Hildreth told the Natural Resource Commission during its Thursday meeting that the hurricane-force winds of the storm felled or irreparably damaged 724,000 acres of trees […]
