Eighty-Seven Iowa Towns Need Clean Water Infrastructure Funding
Bleeding Heartland.comIowaIndependent.com
Iaenvironment.org
Bleeding Heartland and Iowa Independent reported earlier this week that “the Iowa Environmental Council is encouraging U.S. lawmakers to increase clean water infrastructure funding in the economic stimulus plan, now under consideration in Congress.” Blog for Iowa has learned the names of the eighty-seven Iowa communities with water projects ready to go and in need of funding that could be provided by Obama's stimulus plan. (See list below). BFIA thanks Ellen Ballas for doing a little extra digging to come up
with the list of the Iowa towns from Susan Heathcote.
According to Susan Heathcote, Water Program Director for the Iowa Environmental Council, sixty-six Iowa communities do not have a public sewer system and 21 communities need help to upgrade their drinking water systems.
In letters to Iowa Representative Boswell and Senators Harkin and Grassley, Heathcote outlined Iowa projects that could proceed immediately with available funding:
25 communities with sewage treatment plant projects, with estimated needed loan amounts of $165 million:
[West Liberty, Huxley, Inwood, Mason City, University Park, Hamburg 02, Olin, ADLM (Honey Creek), Coin, Dubuque, Muscatine, Clayton County, Malcom, Moulton, Schaller, Dubuque, Boone, Elkader, Lidderdale, Kalona, Little Rock, Emmetsburg, Rock Valley, WRA – WW Reclamation Authority, Anamosa]
41 small unsewered Iowa communities, with estimated total cost of $72 million:
[*Brooks,*Rubio in Washington County, Ellston,
Elvira in Clinton County,*Selma in Van Buren County, Dolliver, Redding, Dana, *Rochester in Cedar County, Promise City, *Union Grove Lake in Tama County, *Harvester Housing Development in Marshall County, Archer, Ledyard, Superior, *Fairview in Jones County, Lone Rock, *Petersburg in Delaware County, Whitten, Haverhill, *Unincorporated areas in Southwest Ringgold County, Goodell, Pleasant Plain, and *East Pleasant Plan in Jefferson County, Reasnor, *Richmond in Washington, County,South English, Joice, Lakota, Luverne, Dows, *West Grove, Troy, and Belknap in Davis County, *Leisure Lake in Jackson County, Lenox, *North Shore, Lake Rathbun, (includes subdivisions of Antler Acres, Rathbun Heights, Lake Shore Heights, Parkside Knolls, Honey Creek State Park, Wind & Waves, Lazy Daze Ranch, Lazy Daze Estates, Green Acres, Bentley West, Bentley East and Iconium), Mount Ayr, *Lake Dehi in Delaware County, *Northern Marion County, Creston, *Unincorporated areas in Buena Vista County.] (* = unincorporated community):21 communities in Iowa with need for upgrades to their drinking water systems, with an estimated total cost of $69 million:
[Mahaska Rural Water, Eldora, West Burlington, Rock Valley, Humboldt, Oskaloosa, Granger, Fort Madison, Council Bluffs, Lisbon, Dayton, Stratford, Whittemore, Lamoni, Keosauqua, DeSoto, Bronson, Charles City, Wyoming, Floyd, Burlington].
Heathcote says, in addition to the new water projects outlined above, Iowa communities also need help to address ongoing efforts to separate outdated combined sewer systems and to repair or replace aging sanitary sewer system pipes. Until this work is completed, Iowa communities must continue to deal with the public health threat from frequent failure of sanitary sewer systems that result in discharges of untreated sewage into Iowa rivers. ACTION: Senator Grassley has been critical of the bill and at the time of this posting, it is not yet known how he will vote, but he appears to be holding out.
If
you live in one of these communities or know someone who does, you may
want to call Senator Grassley and urge him to vote for the stimulus
package. Grassley's DC Ph. (202) 224-3744
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