The Iowa Department of Natural Resources released a draft version of its 2026 biennial integrated report Tuesday, which listed more than 700 segments of rivers, lakes or wetlands in the state as impaired. The impaired list looks at retroactive data and determines if a water segment meets, or fails to meet, designated criteria for uses […]
Iowa River
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Iowa City’s favorite bell disappeared after an incident involving a ‘madman,’ a mob and the Mormon Trail. Now, 177 years later, it’s back.
After 177 years, 1,200 miles, $35,000 and a 70-page report by historians from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a 782-pound church bell was returned to its original home in Iowa City. On Oct. 5, Iowa City’s First Presbyterian Church held a dedication and blessing for what they now call their “Hummer Bell.” […]
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Peak Iowa: When Jumbo the geyser put Belle Plaine on the map
At the corner of 8th Avenue and 8th Street in Belle Plaine, there’s a boulder with a bronze plaque put there in 1954 to commemorate “Jumbo,” a well-turned-geyser that briefly made the Benton County city famous almost 70 years earlier. By the time the well that became Jumbo was dug, the Belle Plaine area already […]
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With no plan to manage groundwater in Iowa, Big Ag threatens the aquifer supplies most households rely upon
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, […]
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Many Iowa rivers are brimming with nitrate
Nitrate contamination of Iowa’s rivers has surged in recent weeks amid heavy, widespread rainfall, according to data collected by the Iowa Water Quality Information System. Concentrations of nitrate in several large waterways — including the Boone, Cedar, Iowa and Turkey rivers — have recently reached four-year peaks, the data show. Further, many of the affected […]
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Your Village: Can you canoe the Iowa River?
“I really want to know why no one ever canoes on the Iowa River. Is it because it’s too dirty?” If you’ve never seen people canoeing on the Iowa River, it’s possible you’ve been looking in the wrong places
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National Weather Service issues its river flooding forecasts for spring
On Thursday, the National Weather Service (NWS) released it river flooding forecasts for spring. According to the NWS Advanced Hydrological Prediction Service, Iowa City shouldn’t see any river flooding during that period, but puts chances that the Cedar River will surge past flood levels in Cedar Rapids this spring at 25 to 50 percent. Flood […]
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Your Village: What happened to the flood marker by the Highway 6 bridge?
What happened to the water-level marker in the Iowa River, and is the city going to replace it?
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Heightened flood risk remains for Eastern Iowa this spring
Iowa tributaries to the Mississippi River face above normal risks for flooding as predicted by the Davenport station of the National Weather Service Forecast Office (NWSFO). Their second spring outlook, released Mar. 3, notes that despite recent dry weather, wet soil across the state would quickly shed precipitation or snowmelt and contribute to flood conditions. […]
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Record levels in the Iowa and Cedar Rivers raise concern for spring flooding
The Cedar River and Iowa River set record levels this winter for streamflow (the amount of water flowing), for the Iowa River as measured at the Iowa City, Marengo and Wapello gauges. Based on current conditions, service hydrologist and meteorologist Jessica Brooks of the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Davenport said the “abnormally wet […]
