Iowa's Failure to Implement and Enforce the Clean Water Act
Iowa's Failure to Implement and Enforce the Clean Water Act
Iowa Groups Question DNR Enforcement of the Clean Water Act
Under the leadership of the Iowa Sierra Club, several environmental and conservation groups, including the Iowa Sierra Club, the Iowa Environmental Council, Midwest Environmental Justice Advocates, and the Hawkeye Fly Fishing Association submitted a letter to the regional EPA office in Kansas City raising serious questions about the implementation and enforcement of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) in Iowa. The letter requests a meeting as soon as possible.
Under the terms of a 1978 agreement with EPA, Iowa has the delegated authority and receives payment to implement and enforce the CWA in this state. This involves administering a number of permit programs including the NPDES program which provides wastewater discharge permits to industries and municipalities. In order to retain the permitting authority, Iowa must have legal water quality standards that meet the letter and intent of the Clean Water Act. They also must enforce those standards. To put it bluntly, Iowa has not been living up to those obligations. Reprinted below are the first two paragraphs of the six page letter.
April 27, 2004
Re: Iowa DNR's Implementation of Clean Water Act
Dear Mr. Alderman:
We represent organizations with members who are concerned with implementation of the Clean Water Act in Iowa. Our members drink Iowa water and many of them fish, swim, enjoy nature or otherwise engage in activities dependant on maintenance and restoration of the chemical, physical, and biological health of Iowa waters. Representatives of our organizations participate actively in efforts to improve Iowa water quality and to ensure enforcement of the Clean Water Act in Iowa.
We are writing now to request a meeting with you and appropriate members of your staff to discuss the continuing failure of Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to take the minimum steps required by federal law to maintain and protect Iowa waters. Many of our complaints concerning the Iowa program will not come as news to Region 7. Since at least 1997, Region 7 has been raising many of the same issues with IDNR, but over six years later these issues have not been addressed. IDNR continues to permit pollution that is clearly prohibited by the Clean Water Act……