|  | Beach Advisories Hit an All-Time High: 2025 Monitoring Recap |
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| Since 2014, IEC has monitored and reported beach advisory statistics to promote public safety and awareness of harmful pollutants to Iowa’s recreational water bodies. This data comes from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) AQuIA site, which serves as a public information portal to display the results of water monitoring conducted by DNR staff. DNR releases water safety reports weekly from Memorial Day to Labor Day. With last week’s advisories in the books, we reflect on another unprecedented year of Iowa beach advisories in our final summer edition of Weekly Water Watch newsletter. Regular precipitation in the spring alleviated Iowa’s prolonged drought but also resulted in considerable runoff to rivers, lakes, and streams. This contributed to sharp increases of E. coli and microcystin levels throughout the summer months, as well as concerning levels of nitrate in source waterbodies for municipal drinking water systems. These concerns were top of mind for Iowans and were an ever-present discussion in Weekly Water Watch, including an explainer of the public health impact of nitrates, findings from the Central Iowa Source Water Resource Assessment, and updates from the Iowa Water Quality Information System public map. |
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| |  | Iowa's Impaired Waters List: What Now? On July 11, 2025, EPA issued a letter to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) rescinding its disapproval of the state’s 2024 impaired waters list, including seven notable river segments. This unprecedented action means that major rivers in Iowa are not treated as exceeding the nitrate standard for purposes of the Clean Water Act. DNR has developed watershed improvement plans for nitrate in the Des Moines, Cedar, and Raccoon Rivers that remain in place, but the Iowa River lacks such a plan. Last week, IEC General Counsel Michael Schmidt was interviewed by Sentient Media to discuss the implications of rescinding the 2024 disapproval of the impaired waters list. He states, “Removing [segments from the Cedar, Des Moines, Iowa, Raccoon and South Skunk rivers] from the from the impaired waters list suggests we don’t need to worry about them because they’re meeting the standards and everything is fine." Read the article here to learn more. |
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 | Consequences from the PERMIT Act Last week, IEC and 13 other Iowa environmental advocacy organizations sent a letter to the state’s congressional delegation - U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn - urging them to oppose The Promoting Efficient Review for Modern Infrastructure Today (PERMIT) Act. The PERMIT Act would limit the scope of the Clean Water Act by redefining "navigable waters" for protection. This would have immediate impact to groundwater and small streams, with the potential to eliminate wetland protections. This legislation is one of many federal threats to public waterbodies. "The Clean Water Act has long enjoyed bipartisan support, protecting both our public health and our agricultural economy. The PERMIT Act undermines that legacy," the letter states. Read the entire letter here and article from the Iowa Captial Dispatch. |
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 | Campaign for Wildlife Conservation and Management The Iowa Conservation Alliance is starting a campaign to achieve another hunting, fishing, and trapping license fee increase. These fees help provide funding necessary for wildlife protections, as well as invasive plant and aquatic species management. The most recent fee increase was in 2018, while acquiring funding for wildlife has not kept up with inflation. Grassroots, stakeholder support can make a difference with the Natural Resource Commission, which is discussing license fees at its September 11 meeting. The Iowa Conservation Alliance asks wildlife supporters to email the members of the Natural Resource Commission to ask for a fee increase. The Commission includes Bill Moritz, Collin Brecher, Uriah Hansen, Tom Prickett, KR Buck, Laura Kudej, and Tammi Kircher. Want more information? See the NRC meeting agenda or check out the Iowa Conservation Alliance website. |
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| | Water Events from IEC and Our Partners |
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| | Hear from IEC's Water Program Director
Hello, Weekly Water Watch readers! Thank you for tuning in this summer to read important information about Iowa's water news. As we pivot away from the summer buzz of beach advisories, our Water Program is excited for the many events we'll be attending this month. You can catch us presenting at the Iowa Water Conference in Ankeny next week, the Practical Farmers of Iowa Field Day in Redfield, IEC's Annual Conference later this month. We'll still include water news and events on our general newsletter alongside programmatic insights from the energy and climate teams, updates on IEC's cancer and environmental risk factors project, and our new legislative agenda for 2026. If you're passionate about these issues, please consider making a donation to IEC and protect our mission to ensure a safe, healthy environment and sustainable future for all Iowans. Thank you again for your support!
- Colleen Fowle, IEC Water Program Director |
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| | | | Iowa Environmental Council
505 Fifth Ave., Suite 850
Des Moines, Iowa 50309-2317
515-244-1194 | iecmail@iaenvironment.org |
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