Around Des Moines

Though snow and ice cover the land, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club want you to think about your use of certain streams and rivers and to share your experiences as part of a public comment period on proposals to reclassify the recreational designation of some of the state’s waterways. The deadline for submitting comments on this legislatively-mandated review has been extended to January 2, 2008. What steps industry, municipalities, and other governmental entities must take for the water they discharge to meet standards of the Clean Water Act will vary depending upon the final DNR classifications.

There are numerous technical terms associated with identifying recreational use and aquatic status of waterways. Fortunately only a few of them are necessary to know for this particular purpose. The Clean Water Act is the 1970’s federal legislation that gives the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the authority to set water quality and wastewater standards. In 2005, the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club persuaded the state to declare all perennial waterways as primary use. Perennial means that there is water flowing through the stream during the entire year. Two other terms related to water flow are intermittent, i.e., flow that occurs during seasonal wet periods, and ephemeral, i.e, flow that occurs only during or immediately after rain events. In 2006, rules went into effect based on a legislative mandate for the DNR to assess all the perennial rivers and streams before applying the standards passed by the legislature. This is where the public comment period and earlier public hearings come into play.

The DNR has three designations for perennial waterways as they relate to recreational use. A-1 means that there is a high risk for ingestion of water, such as might occur when swimming or kayaking. A-1 is the designation that was assumed for all perennial streams and rivers in Iowa as a result of the department’s action. The DNR has prepared a Use Assessment (UA)/Use Attainability Analysis (UAA) for each of these waterways and currently is recommending changes for all or part of 292 of them. An A-3 classification carries the same protection as an A-1. A-3 applies primarily to streams in urban and residential areas where children are likely to play. Fourmile and Walnut Creeks where they pass through Des Moines are classified A-3. The A-2 designation means there is low risk of ingesting water. Uses for A-2 streams include fishing or recreational boating where passengers are expected to stay dry. The DNR also found that some of the streams it examined should be reclassified from perennial to intermittent waterways.

Rules for aquatic life, i.e., fish and supportive habitat, have different water standards than those used for recreational use and will not be discussed here. In addition, the assignation of a recreational classification of A-1, A-2, or A-3 does not mean that the quality of the water currently meets the standards for those uses. Thus, while not part of this public comment period, the Impaired Waters list for Iowa is an important reference source.

In a phone interview with Adam Schnieders of the DNR, he told me that Iowa has 72,000 stream miles. Of these miles; 46,000 are intermittent and 26,000 are perennial. The legislative action upgrading all perennial streams to A-1 status affected 14,000 miles of streams. Previously, these had been designated as general use. The mandate from the legislature was for DNR to determine the highest attainable use of waterways. The DNR presumed that would be the highest use, e.g., swimming. The A-3 designation allows this level of protection even when there is too little depth to the stream for other uses. Schnieders said the DNR looked at a representative sample of sites, usually around bridges. Sometimes they found signs of human use but at other locations they found no sign that there ever had been a human presence. Because the streams and rivers that were determined to be perennial are being classified instead of being left as general use, Schnieders said there will still be a need for wastewater dischargers to spend money to improve their systems. The upgrades to capital infrastructure and operations maintenance that will be required as a result of waterways reclassification has been estimated to be between $750 million and $960 million.

The Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club considers application of the DNR’s A-2 classification to be a downgrading of acceptable water quality. State chapter Director Neila Seaman said in a phone interview that about 600 more stream designations will be released by the DNR in 2008. Talking about the 2005 upgrade, she said, “we just wanted to get into minimum compliance with the Clean Water Act.”

M.R. Field is editor of Leading Voices: Iowa.