Success of voluntary conservation practices at crux of potential water works lawsuit

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey came to Rockwell City last week full of praise for local farmers and their voluntary conservation efforts.

The Jan. 20 meeting, which about 200 people attended, came in response to Des Moines Water Works notifying Calhoun, Buena Vista and Sac counties that it intends to file suit, under the federal Clean Water Act, for pollutants ending up in the Raccoon River. The water works uses the river as one of two water sources for its customers.

What Northey didn’t do at the meeting, attendees said afterward, was offer much information on what happens next, or what the state plans to do if DMWW proceeds with the lawsuit. Such a suit would be precedent setting, Northey said, and not just affect Iowa farms. 

Read more of this story in the Jan. 28 edition of The Graphic-Advocate.