This article ran in the local paper this week. If you can please voice your concerns. Not much time left.
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Comments needed to protect three rivers
Three rivers in Delaware County won’t be subject to new anti-pollution rules if the Iowa Environmental Protection Commission approves exemptions and lowered protections for them. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) has recently included them on a list of 279 bodies of water to receive reduced protection or no protection under the Federal Clean Water Act. That means they might not be safe for children to play in and, in some, the fish might not be safe to eat.
The streams include: the Maquoketa River from Joy Springs through Backbone State Park to two miles north of Manchester; North Fork of the Maquoketa River south of Dyersville to the city of Maquoketa and Buffalo Creek from north of Winthrop to Anamosa.
If the streams protections are reduced or eliminated, sewage treatment plants and other facilities will be allowed to continue releasing wastewater into them with harmful levels of bacteria and other pollutants. If people have used these rivers at any time since 1975 for swimming or other activities where they could get water in their eyes, ears or mouth, full water protections must be put in place and sewer agencies required to disinfect the wastewater they discharge to meet safe levels for human contact and, if people use the rivers for fishing, other pollutants need to be reduced as well.
Comments should therefore include details of how, when and where the stream is used. They should also include similar information about any other uses such as wading, boating, tubing, ‘kid’s play,’ or fishing, since these also expose people to bacteria and viruses.
Sewage that has not been disinfected may contain viruses, parasites and other pathogens that can make people sick with ear infections, typhoid fever, hepatitis, gastroenteritis, dysentery and other illnesses. Pathogens such as fecal coliform and E. coli bacteria are indicators of poor water quality and possible contamination with human or animal waste.
Waters with elevated levels of fecal coliform and E. coli bacteria are considered unsafe to swim in or for children and adolescents to play in.
Additional information and a river uses comment form can be found at http://www.iowa.sierraclub.org.
Comments should be sent to Adam Schniders at the Iowa DNR, Wallace State Office Building, 502 East 9th Street, Des Moines, IA 50319. Comments may also be faxed to 515-281-8895 or emailed to [email protected]. Comments must be postmarked by Tuesday, Dec. 11 or emailed and faxed by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 11.
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The water quality in Northeast Iowa has really improved in the last number of years, I hate to see things like this happen.
Thanks
Rick