Official: Filing intent to sue started good conversations about nitrates

More than a month after the Des Moines Water Works board filed an intent to sue drainage districts in Calhoun, Buena Vista and Sac counties over nitrate levels in the Raccoon River watershed, one thing hasn’t changed – the entity is still running its denitrification plant.
The plant has been running nonstop since December, Board Chairman Graham Gillette told The Graphic-Advocate last week.
“We’ve never had levels like we’re seeing in the middle of winter before,” Gillette said. “We can’t explain it. Is 2015 the outlier?”
That’s the bad news. The good news is, Gillette said, the board’s intention with announcing the possible lawsuit, to be filed under the federal Clean Water Act, was to get people talking about water quality and reducing nitrates in the water. The move seems to be working.
“I am encouraged by conversations with the governor’s office and others,” he said. “I think they’re genuine in their desire to find a solution to this.”
Read more in the Feb. 25 edition