DNR moves back deadline on impaired waters

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has extended the deadline for public comment on the proposed list of impaired waters it’ll send to the E-P-A. D-N-R spokesman Kevin Baskins says the comment period was originally scheduled to end September 19th, but it’s been extended to October 11th.Baskins says some environmental groups requested more time to look over the list. The latest list has 159 bodies of water on it. Baskins says that list is getting a lot of comparison with the first list that came out in 1998. He says there’s probably more interest in what’s not on the list than there is in what’s on the list. He says environmental groups are researching the bodies of waters that were on the ’98 list, but didn’t make the new list. Water can be designated in three ways, for drinking, for use by aquatic animals and for human contact. Baskins says those designations determine which waters are on the impaired list.He says there has to be enough contamination that the water isn’t fit for its designation. You can see the proposed list of impaired water by visiting the D-N-R’s website.