National and state environmental organizations are suing the EPA over last year’s decision to remove seven sections of Iowa rivers from the Impaired Waters List. Parts of the Cedar, Des Moines, Iowa and Raccoon rivers were removed from the list used to identify bodies of water that don’t meet water quality standards. Iowa Environmental Council lawyer Michael Schmidt says the decision pushes back water quality improvements.
“DNR doesn’t have to come up with that pollution source assessment and plan to clean it up,” he says.
The waterways taken off the list are all used for drinking water and have long-standing water quality issues, including nitrate contamination from farm runoff. Schmidt says the EPA told them they were reevaluating the waterways but didn’t say why.
“This is a list that has to be submitted on a regular basis, and EPA has to take action on that, not just sit on it and pretend that the problem doesn’t exist,” Schmidt says.
Schmidt says they’re asking for the rivers to be added back to the list, or an explanation for why they were removed.
