A learning and listening session on threats to drinking water quality in northeast Iowa has been scheduled to take place in Marquette on Wednesday, Dec. 20.
Two speakers will discuss the status of the multi-state problem beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Driftless Area Wetland Centre, 509 U.S. Highway 18. David Cwiertny of the University of Iowa Center on the Health Effects of Environmental Contamination will present data on water quality in the Driftless, the three-state area including southeast Minnesota and southwest Wisconsin known for its “karst” terrain.
Dissolving bedrock in karst areas creates sinkholes, underground streams, caves, springs and aquifers tapped with wells for drinking water. Surface contaminants such as fertilizer from farms, human waste from septic systems and animal waste from livestock operations can get into and pollute such waters.
The second speaker is Carly Griffith, water program director for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. She will discuss the state of water quality on the Minnesota side of the border in the Driftless.
The issue came up in the news in November when the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) directed the State of Minnesota to take further action to protect public health by developing a plan to provide education, outreach and alternative drinking water to residents affected by drinking water polluted with nitrate. Nitrate contamination often occurs in areas where farm fertilizers and animal/human waste get into surface water and groundwater, which then flows to private drinking water wells and the source waters of public water utilities.
Griffith is a doctoral candidate in geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she has conducted legal and policy research on water and mineral resources in the Upper Midwest and northern Great Plains. The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, with numerous other organizations, submitted the petition to the EPA to require Minnesota to take action.
The meeting is organized by State Rep. Chuck Isenhart of Dubuque. Isenhart is on the Agriculture Committee in the Iowa House of Representatives, as well as the budget committee for health and human services. He is also a member of the Natural Resources and Infrastructure Committee with the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Other state legislators and local officials from Winneshiek, Allamakee, Clayton, Fayette, Dubuque and Jackson counties have been invited to serve on a “listening and learning panel” at the event.
The meeting is free for the general public to attend. Residents facing water quality issues, as well as municipal and rural water providers, are invited to speak about their experiences in producing and obtaining clean drinking water.
A Facebook page to promote the event and provide further information has been set up at https://www.facebook.com/events/1042362963739191. The names of other officials joining the listening panel will be added to that page when they indicate their ability to attend.
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