The Iowa Court of Appeals is ordering the Department of Natural Resources to investigate the water quality of a stream in northeast Iowa, siding with a citizens’ group, the Driftless Water Defenders.
For years, they watched nitrate levels rise in Bloody Run Creek, and claim the pollution comes from a cattle operation first approved by the DNR in 2017.
The group’s lawyer, James Larew, says the stream is a symbol of Iowa’s declining water quality, and they want a good faith investigation.
“We think the whole purpose of the DNR’s water quality division is to, you know, to get to it. To investigate,” Larew says.
The DNR has 30 days from the ruling to start its investigation or to appeal the decision to the Iowa Supreme Court.
Larew says Bloody Run Creek was one Iowa’s cleanest streams until the cattle operation opened near its headwaters almost a decade ago.
“So we filed this complaint, said we want an investigation into what is causing this very unhealthy amount of nitrate into one of Iowa’s most pristine water bodies,” Larew says. “The DNR did nothing, it didn’t respond, made no indication that it was investigating, just did nothing.”
The DNR did not respond to request for comment.
(Gavin McGough, Iowa Public Radio)