The Iowa Environmental Council is calling for state inspection andmonitoring of ag drainage wells which were targeted for closure in 1997. For a variety of reasons, few of the wells which drain into undergroundwater sources have been capped. Iowa Environmental Council ExecutiveDirector Linda Applegate says three-hundred-40 ag drainage wells wereregistered with the state earlier this decade, and a few have been closed. Others haven’t been capped.Applegate says in the interim, it’s important to ensure there’s notcomtamination seeping into the underground drinking water supply.The legislature in 1997 set aside three-million dollars to close the mostrisky ag drainage wells and to help farmers repair others.
