Iowa Bill Would Eliminate Utility

OMAHA (DTN) -- Perhaps there's no better way to make an Iowa nutrients lawsuit against drainage districts go away than to eliminate the utility that filed the lawsuit.

That's what a Republican state lawmaker in Iowa has proposed in a bill that would essentially end Des Moines Water Works' and hand control of drinking water in three Iowa communities over to local city councils.

The bill, House File 484, introduced by Iowa House Rep. Jarad Klein, R-Keota, was voted out of the agriculture committee this week.

Des Moines Water Works filed a lawsuit against drainage districts in three counties in January 2015, claiming those counties are responsible for high nutrients in source waters in the Raccoon River watershed. DMWW has alleged in its lawsuit that the drainage districts should be responsible for reducing nutrients runoff through the Clean Water Act.

The Iowa Supreme Court recently ruled that DMWW could not seek monetary damages from the drainage districts in Buena Vista, Calhoun and Sac counties. A trial in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa in Sioux City is on track to begin on June 26.

DMWW Chief Executive Officer and General Manager Bill Stowe said the lawsuit will not improve water quality.

"DMWW is disappointed in pending legislation that would dismantle several independent water boards in violation of home rule (self-governance)," he said in an email to DTN.

"Our attention as Iowans is being diverted from Iowa's serious water quality challenges."

Iowa Code Chapter 388 allows a city to establish or eliminate a city utility. But such action is subject to approval of local voters.

On its website this week, DMWW urges its 500,000 customers to "stand against House File 484."

The utility said the bill would "disband the governing boards of the Des Moines, Urbandale, and West Des Moines water works. If signed into law, these three independent utilities would be forced to turn over management and their assets to the city councils in each city."

The legislation would dissolve water works trustees in cities with populations greater than 39,000. The bill would then grant the authority to local city councils. City managers would be allowed to appoint administrators of water supply systems.

The Des Moines city council is expected to decide whether to support the legislation at the council's regularly scheduled meeting on March 20. That may change if the bill passes the legislature before the council meeting.

On its website, DMWW calls the legislation "a diversion."

"There is no drinking water quality crisis in the Des Moines metro area that would necessitate the state legislature stepping in," the utility says on its website.

"The real problem is source water quality in the state. The legislature should be focused on water quality, not local water production ... This is a solution looking for a nonexistent problem. The legislature is sticking its nose where it doesn't belong. The proposed legislation actually impedes the region's ability to create a regional water authority.

"... House File 484 is an example of politics at its worst. This legislation is clearly retaliation for the Clean Water Lawsuit, and shows no regard to the 500,000 people who depend on Des Moines Water Works for clean and affordable drinking water every day."

Iowa state officials maintain the best approach to reducing nutrient runoff in the state is through voluntary conservation measures.

If successful, it is believed the legal action could lead to regulating farm ground as a pollution point source in Iowa, and perhaps across the country, if legal fever spreads. It could require farmers to pay for expensive permits for normal farm practices, as well as restrict the use of fertilizer or other farm chemicals.

DMWW estimates it costs the utility about $7,000 a day to filter nutrients from source waters for about 500,000 customers, or about 1 cent per day, per customer.

At the center of the lawsuit is the extensive subsurface tile drainage that helped turn the Raccoon River watershed northwest of Des Moines into one of the most productive cropping and livestock areas in the country.

The tiling also allowed farm nutrients to move downstream. The lawsuit specifically declares tile drainage pipes and ditches operated by the drainage districts as "point sources which transport a high concentration of nitrates contained in groundwater."

The Raccoon River drains 3,625 square miles, including some 2.3 million acres in west-central Iowa.

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @toddneeleyDTN

(BAS/SK)

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