Water Quality Alert
By Ed Fallon
Dear Friends,
First, I regret to have to tell you that the
global warming plunge scheduled for December 8th at Grays Lake in Des
Moines has been cancelled.
Second, Iowa's streams and rivers
need your help. While I am no water-quality wizard, I have worked hard
on a range of environmental issues over the past 15 years. I have
gained a lot of respect for Iowa's grassroots environmental leaders,
including Steve Veysey. Steve is a well-respected scientist and
spokesman on water quality. He's the environmental protection
coordinator for the Hawkeye Fly Fishing Association and the
conservation co-chair of the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club.
Just
this week, I learned from him and others that the Iowa DNR proposes to
downgrade water-quality standards in 279 river and stream segments,
rendering these waters less safe for both aquatic life and human
recreation. To quote from a recent letter Steve sent to Sierra Club
members, DNR is essentially saying they have no evidence that anyone
has ever recreated in these rivers and streams since 1975 in a manner
that would pose a significant risk of ingesting water. Therefore,
recreational protection will be reduced in order to allow cities and
industries to continue discharging unnecessary pollution.
Its
up to us to let the DNR know that human activity IS occurring in these
streams, and that the water quality needs to be protected. The period
allowed for public comments closes on December 11th. You can learn
more about the issue by visiting http://iowa.sierraclub.org/. To weigh
in with your own comments on streams and rivers where youve seen
people fishing, canoeing, swimming, wading, tubing, etc, go to here.
If you have photos that document any such activity, I imagine those
would be of interest to the
DNR as well.
In my own c ounty of
Polk, both Beaver and Four Mile creeks are on the DNRs list of streams
to downgrade. Ive canoed Beaver Creek several times, and have also
seen people tubing and fishing in it. Ive seen kids wading along a
sandbar on Four Mile Creek, and on two occasions have watched deer
drink from it. In Dallas County, Ive canoed the South Raccoon River,
which is also on the DNRs hit list.
Friend and former
legislative colleague, Bill Witt, summed it up in an e-mail to me
yesterday, asking how far down the slippery slope we want to slide,
suggesting that if you push the standard of “reasonable attainment
back far enough, Clevelands Cuyahoga River could still be burning.
One
more quote of interest from Steve: {T}he key question I keep asking
{the DNR}is, When discussing recreational uses, does the occurrence of
the use prove the existence of the use? Well, of course it does, but
I can't get DNR to admit it. We have them on record saying, Swimming
in polluted water doesn't prove the existence of swimming as a use; it
proves the existence of swimming in polluted water as a use, and that
is all that needs to be protected for. That usually gets a stir from
the crowd.
And it ought to get a stir from us, too. If you
have experience with activity on any of the streams and rivers proposed
to be downgraded, please share that with the DNR. Thanks for your help!
Ed Fallon
Blog For Iowa 