DES MOINES, Iowa, June 17, 2008 (ENS) – Raw sewage is flowing into rivers and streams across central and eastern Iowa as one after another wastewater facilities are inundated by the record floods that have swept the state during the past two weeks.

Livestock manure is also part of the nasty mix, along with spilled fuel and chemicals, all heading to the flooding Mississippi River and down to the Gulf of Mexico.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is warning people to avoid contact with floodwater that may be contaminated with sewage or hazardous substances because exposure to the waste could transmit intestinal illnesses and skin infections.

Do not wade, swim, or enter floodwaters and immediately wash hands and bare skin that comes in contact with floodwater with soap and hot water, health officials warn.

It could be weeks before hundreds of damaged sewage treatment plants are operating again, say officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Flooded road north of Vinton, Iowa
(Photo courtesy Iowa DOT)

In southeast Iowa, sewage plants at Keosauqua and Bonaparte are flooded, and Ottumwa is allowing some wastes to flow into streams, DNR officials said. Officials in Burlington shut down the city’s sewage treatment plant and all Burlington sewage is now entering the Mississippi River.

The rising Mississippi burst its banks Tuesday morning, breaking a levee near the village of Gulfport and forcing the closure of the Great River Bridge that connects Gulfport to Burlington, Iowa via U.S. Highway 34.

Meanwhile, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, is planning for expected flooding in Illinois and Missouri later this week, with water and generators being pre-positioned as flood waters flow down the Mississippi River. Peak cresting along the Mississippi is expected on Thursday.

Right now, major flooding is occurring or forecast over most of Iowa, closing highways, washing out road and rail bridges, and snarling rail traffic across much of the Midwest.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been asked by FEMA to coordinate hazardous material and oil-related response in flooded areas throughout Iowa.

The EPA will retrieve orphaned hazardous containers and drums, such as fuel and propane tanks, respond to chemical and oil releases, collect and dispose of flood-damaged household hazardous waste, and conduct monitoring and sampling of air and water. To report orphaned hazardous containers or chemical/oil releases, citizens should call the EPA Region 7 24-hour Response Line at (913) 281-0991.

President George W. Bush is scheduled to tour the flooded areas on Thursday. Speaking to reporters today, the president said he wants to ensure that Congress appropriates enough money to cover this emergency and any others that might arise before the end of the year. The Atlantic hurricane season is just two weeks old, and will not end until November 30.

Floodwaters overtake the Iowa town of Columbus
Junction (Photo courtesy Iowa DOT)

For all the thousands of people who have lost their homes to the flooding, the president said he asked Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to set up a housing task force to assist them.

“I fully understand people are upset when they lose their home,” said President Bush. “A person’s home is their most valued possession. And we want to work with state and local folks to have a clear strategy to help people find – get back into a place that – where they can live.”

“I, unfortunately, have been to too many disasters as President. But one thing I’ve always learned is that the American citizen can overcome these disasters,” said Bush. “And life, while it may seem dim at this point in time, can always be better because of the resiliency and care of our citizens.”

Speaking to reporters on his plane today, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Illinois Senator Barack Obama said, “Thank goodness that we didn’t see significant casualties, but in terms of the economic losses in that state and the prospects of rebuilding, it is mind boggling. You’ve got the second largest city in Iowa that is gonna be under water for at least another four, five days. You have three million acres of corn that are effectively destroyed, losses are going to be in the tens of billions of dollars potentially and, we’re not done.”

“We’re gonna be seeing problems spill over as the Mississippi rises, it’s about to crest,” Obama said. “I was in Quincy, I think you joined me this weekend, to fill some sand bags and get an assessment of what’s going on there. Burlington along the Mississippi River, some of the river towns in Missouri are all gonna be impacted by this, and so I just wanted to assure [Iowa] Governor [Chet] Culver that we’re gonna do everything we can to get aid there rapidly.”

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Arizona Senator John McCain said only, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those impacted by the flooding throughout the Midwest. Cindy and I would like to extend our sympathies to all those who have lost loved ones, and stand ready to help those in the Midwest to recover and rebuild.”

During the past two weeks over 10 inches of rain have fallen in the vicinity of Des Moines, Iowa, and over large areas of northeastern Iowa, southern Wisconsin and west central Lower Michigan, eight inches more than normal, according to the National Weather Service.

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DES MOINES, Iowa, April 9, 2008 (ENS) – A new law signed by Governor Chet Culver last week creates a Water Resource Coordinating Council in the Governor’s Office tasked with coordinating the management of Iowa’s water resources.

The Iowa Surface Water Protection Act is the result of more than two years of work by the Iowa Watershed Quality Planning Task Force.

Rick Robinson, environmental policy adviser for the Iowa Farm Bureau, was a member of the task force. “We know farmers and all Iowans want to see improved water quality throughout our state, but it will take a lot more on-the-ground assessment, monitoring and education to bring all citizens together to see real improvements,” he told the publication “Wallace’s Farmer.”

“A crucial component of this plan is the Water Resources Coordinating Council, and we are all excited that the governor’s office will have direct oversight of the group, which is integral to Iowa’s watershed improvement success,” said Robinson.

A tributary of the Mississippi, the Iowa
River is 300 miles long.
(Photo credit unknown)

The Council will coordinate 12 state agencies to assess Iowa’s water resources and develop a marketing campaign to educate and engage Iowans about the need to take personal responsibility for water quality in their local watershed.

Among the participating agencies are the Iowa Department of Public Health, Iowa Homeland Security, Iowa Department of Transportation, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and the Iowa Soil Conservation Division of the state Department of Agriculture.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey said, “Improving water quality is central to the work at the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.”

The division of soil conservation is responsible for a wide variety of soil and water quality conservation programs and assists the 100 Soil and Water Conservation Districts across the state.

“The Council has the potential to help the wide variety of groups that are focused on improving water quality in the state work together better and avoid duplication that can result from a lack of coordination,” Northey said.

There is no shortage of work to do. The Iowa River ranked as the country’s third most endangered river, according to the conservation group American Rivers’ 2007 annual report, the first time an Iowa river was listed.

American Rivers says toxics, nitrates, and untreated sewage put the Iowa River on the list.

Iowa’s new law requires assessment of both larger and smaller watersheds across the state. Communities will receive help with monitoring and measurement of water quality in their subwatersheds.

Wastewater and stormwater treatment infrastructure will be assessed to find which methods and systems present the greatest level of risk to water quality and the health of residents.

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DES MOINES, Iowa, March 11, 2008 (ENS) – Water pollution, wastewater pretreatment, and solid waste violations at Cargill’s biodiesel facility in Iowa Falls have netted the agricultural products giant a $100,000 civil penalty.

The court order, which was entered early Monday by Hardin County District Court Judge Carl Baker, resolves a lawsuit also filed Monday by Miller’s office, but the company will still be penalized.

“Cargill has resolved the issues and is in compliance, but these were serious violations,” Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said Monday.

Cargill’s Iowa Falls location has produced biodiesel since May 2006. The company reports 37.5 million gallons of capacity at the plant.

The lawsuit alleged that Cargill’s biodiesel production facility generates high-strength wastewater and sludge, which were discharged into the City of Iowa Falls’ wastewater treatment facility under a pretreatment agreement with the city. But during several months in 2005, 2006, and 2007, Cargill exceeded its pretreatment effluent limitations, the state said.

Iowa Falls wastewater treatment facility
(Photo courtesy City of Iowa Falls)

On June 12, 2006, the city notified Cargill that no further wastewater would be accepted.

After the City of Iowa Falls refused further wastewater, Cargill hired Mort’s, Inc., of Latimer, to haul away and land-apply the sludge waste. Mort’s hauled and land-applied 135,000 gallons of Cargill’s sludge at two different pasture sites from June 14 through July 9, 2006.

The lawsuit alleges that neither Mort’s nor Cargill complied with requirements governing land application of sludge, such as testing the sludge to determine appropriate application rates, and injecting or incorporating the sludge within 48 hours of application.

On July 9, 2006, the suit alleges, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, DNR, received a complaint by golfers on the Meadow Hills Golf Course, located east of the City of Iowa Falls, of dead fish and a milky white color in School Creek.

The agency investigated and traced the wastes to one of the land application sites used by Mort’s located upstream from the golf course. The suit alleged the discharge “created an acutely toxic environment that resulted in the death of at least 582 fish.”

Cargill immediately discontinued the land application of its sludge wastes by Mort’s and instead Cargill began hauling the wastes to the Wastewater Reclamation Facility in Des Moines.

Cargill now is discharging wastewater to the Iowa Falls treatment system again and is in compliance with pretreatment limitations in its agreement with the city.

In addition to the $100,000 civil penalty, the order prohibits future violations at any of the five Iowa facilities in Cargill’s Grain and Oilseed Supply Chain North America Business Unit, located in Iowa Falls, Sioux City, Des Moines, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The state lawsuit also names Mort’s, Inc., of Latimer as a defendant, but allegations against Mort’s were not resolved by the consent order, judgment and decree entered in court today. That lawsuit is still pending.

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BURLINGTON, Iowa, February 24, 2008 (ENS) – The City of Burlington discharged an estimated two million gallons of untreated wastewater mixed with storm runoff water to the Mississippi River after a pipe became plugged last week.

City officials are unsure of when the discharge began, but they discovered the plugged pipe on Tuesday in the Brooks Street section of the Hawkeye Sewer System.

The line was unplugged the same afternoon, but the discharge was not reported to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, DNR, until about noon on Wednesday.

The DNR will issue a notice of violation to the city because the discharge was not reported on time. Discharges due to mechanical failures must be reported to the state agency within 12 hours of the onset or discovery of the discharge.

“If we had been notified when the discharge began or shortly after that, we could have collected and tested water samples,” said Russell Royce, an environmental specialist with the Washington DNR field office. “That would have let us know the impact of the discharge.”

“Without test results, we don’t know how much the untreated wastewater was diluted by any rain water runoff entering the combined storm and sanitary sewers,” he said.

Burlington is one of nine Iowa cities that could be sanctioned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency because they have yet upgrade their aging sewer systems. The federal agency said last week that the communities must separate their stormwater from their wastewater.

Burlington city officials have recently made a major commitment to update the city’s combined sewer system. City officials plan to install storage tanks at the Brooks Street section this year to prevent future overflows.

The other eight Iowa cities that have not separated their water treatment systems are Clinton, Des Moines, Fort Madison, Keokuk, Muscatine, Ottumwa, Spencer and Wapello.

Cities are reluctant to incur the enormous costs involved in these upgrades. In Des Moines, for example, the price tag for such an upgrade is $250 million. For Ottumwa, it’s $220 million.

Barb Lynch of the DNR says some grants and low interest loans are available, but residents will see higher sewer and water bills. “It’s going to take local money. It’s going to take user fees. It’s going to take state and federal money as well,” Lynch said

The EPA is asking those nine cities to make the water treatment system upgrades within the next 15 to 17 years, but the communities are asking federal officials for permission to spread the cost of the upgrades out over 20 to 25 years so residents will not be hit with large increases in their sewer and water bills all at once.

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