Des Moines, Iowa — An alliance called the Iowa Partnership for Clean Water has formed in response to the March lawsuit (GM March 16, p. 1) filed by Des Moines Water Works (DMWW) against three neighboring counties over nitrate pollution from farm runoff. The alliance is supported by the Iowa Farm Bureau, and its board includes Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett, Des Moines City Council member Christine Hensley, and Patty Judge, Iowa’s former lieutenant governor and secretary of agriculture. The alliance’s board said in a May news release that it will “lead the organization and the growing group of supporters who believe Iowa agriculture has been unfairly blamed for water quality issues and aim to shed light on the conservation efforts that Iowa farmers employ each day.” A new website for the alliance targets DMWW specifically for “standing in the way of progress,” and criticizes “unjustified claims and frivolous lawsuits” that “place unnecessary hardships on Iowa farmers and delay the implementation of cooperative solutions.” DMWW responded in a May 16 Des Moines Register article by calling the alliance “a political effort,” and said the group was more interested in gaining political support “than it is in engaging in meaningful, problem-solving conversation.” DMWW’s lawsuit targets the boards of supervisors for Sac, Buena Vista, and Calhoun counties, in their capacities as trustees of 10 drainage districts, for the “discharge of nitrate pollutants into the Raccoon River, and failure to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit in violation of the Clean Water Act.” DMWW said the legal action came after recent water samples showed “extraordinarily high” nitrate levels that required the water utility to operate a costly and outdated nitrate removal facility.
Transparency Across the Fertilizer Value-Chain