Clean Water

Recent headlines have called our attention to Iowa's toxic waterways, an environmental hazard fueling, among other things, the highest cancer rates in the country. At a recent Meet & Greet event, I was asked about our water and what can be done at the local level to improve it. I have over a decade of experience as a watershed planner. And I'll be honest, watershed planning in Iowa is an uphill battle--a fight for our own health and the wellness of our land and all beings on the planet. Call me a hippie, but I agree with the sentiment that the earth doesn't belong to us, we belong to the earth.

Here's what I'll say about our water quality issues in Iowa- watersheds do not fall along political boundaries and everyone is downstream from somewhere.

What does that mean? We need to take care of the soil and water in our county to improve the quality of water that is coming out of our faucets, our showers, our drinking water, and that of our downstream neighbors. There are many ways that our water is impacted- higher nitrates from agricultural runoff, leaking septic systems that reach our streams and rivers, and commercial animal confinements that result in feces spilling into nearby creeks, to name a few. We are #1 in the country for cancer rates. Many of our publicly accessible waters are closed for high e-coli contamination or algal blooms in the summer months. If you live in Iowa, I am not telling you anything you don't know or experience.

But you may have heard that we cannot solve this problem. Call me an eternal optimist, but I believe we can. But it will not be easy and will require a cultural shift back to remembering what it was like to be connected to water beyond our water faucets.

I have a few ideas to share.

It's true, as a local government we don't have the authority to enact legislation like IWiLL (Iowa’s Water and Land Legacy) at the state level, which would fund much needed water quality improvements and conservation practices (a constitutional amendment that the voters passed in 2010, but the state has yet to enact). However, there are things we can do in Johnson County.

• What if we purchased 50-foot buffers along the Iowa river? This would reduce runoff of all kinds of things into our river, in particular heavier metals and nitrates. Some may say this can't be done--but it already has been enacted in Minnesota. As a watershed planner, I visited these sites and met with their state legislators back in 2015, and these buffers are monitored and mapped for transparency and accountability purposes. It works.
  

• In the more urban areas, we can work with municipalities to do what Dubuque started in 2014 and 240 Green Alleys. The city of Dubuque committed to reducing runoff into the Mississippi River by installing permeable pavers into all of their alleys, which not only slows and infiltrates rainwater back into the soil under the alleys (and then the aquifer), but reduces the need for snow removal.

These scalable solutions are working for other communities, so let's try them here! There's no one quick fix to an issue as large as toxic waterways, and it will take all of us to do our part. As a County Supervisor, I would like another term to explore these ideas and any others that our community wants to explore together.

On another note, in line with water quality, I do want to highlight that our neighbors in our manufactured home parks already have water they cannot drink. And when I finally got a meeting with the owners of these neighborhoods (Havenpark -an out-of-state private equity firm), I was fortunate to have water samples from an effort that the Johnson County Residents United leadership had gathered. They had been working with the University of Iowa to run tests on the water coming out of their taps and we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to Erin Brockovich the owners. So, I presented them with samples out of resident's tap and had cups ready to offer them a each a glass. Not surprisingly, they declined to drink them.

But this is how we must work together. Lifting up the voices of those directly impacted by bad actors and then pressing for action. But our work is not done and I am incredibly grateful to the residents who continue to fight for their right to have safe, affordable, and decent housing that has clean water they can drink.

There are many other things I could say about how we can clean up our act when it comes to water in Johnson County, but for now, know that I am keeping an eye on data centers and their impacts on drinking water. If you have questions/concerns/ideas, please join me at my Cafe con V meet ups- every Monday at Kindred Coffee and Friday at Deluxe Bakery.

And now...Three with V:

1. Early voting is happening!!! You can drive through and vote at our Health and Human Services parking deck (855 S. Dubuque St.) or walk into the county administration building (913 S. Dubuque St.). We have an incredible group of poll workers that are happy to help you! 8am-5pm
   

2. There's 11 days left until the Primary Election on June 2nd!! If you would like to knock doors or phone bank with us please sign up here: https://www.vfo4joco.com/volunteer
   

3. Mark your calendars for TWO events:

   1. Mandi and I will be at Beadology for a Meet & Greet on Sunday, May 31st from 5:30-7pm at Beadology (355 S. Clinton St.). Hope to see you there!!

   2. Election Night Watch Party!!! On June 2nd we will be at Wild Culture Kombucha Bar (210 N. Linn St.) from 7pm- WIN!!! This is a family-friendly affair and we will have food and drinks, games and more!

Maraming Salamat!!!