A group called the Driftless Water Defenders has formed to push for stronger regulations to protect the water in the region of northeast Iowa.
Former University of Iowa researcher Chris Jones is the group’s president. He says that in addition to defending water quality, the group realizes the importance of the area’s geological history. “We need to protect this. It’s the last thing we have left that still retains some of that pre-European settlement character,” Jones says. Jones says residents in the Driftless came together to try to put a stop to cattle feeding when a 12,000 head operation set up shop near Bloody Run Creek in Clayton County.
“When we saw that operation move in and got the permits to do so, it told us that there’s basically nothing in Iowa that would be off-limits to the cattle industry,” he says. The group is supporting a petition from the Iowa Environmental Council calling on the EPA to mitigate nitrate pollution .
(By Grant Winterer, Iowa Public Radio)