Drainage districts in three counties in northwestern Iowa have no way to control nitrate levels in water draining into waterways, so the Des Moines Water Works is misguided in suing them, says the lawyer defending the counties. Attorney Michael Reck also said the utility is mistaken in saying the drainage districts needed to obtain water discharge permits. Reck raised the arguments in asking a U.S. district judge in Sioux City to dismiss two of the 10 counts in the lawsuit, said the Sioux City Journal. The case is being watched as potential precedent-setter on control of agricultural runoff, which has been exempt from clean water laws as a “nonpoint” source.
Reck made similar points last December in asking for dismissal of the eight other counts in the lawsuit. The water works was given until May 5 to respond to the latest filings. No date for a hearing was set.
The lawsuit, filed more than a year ago, says the county boards of supervisors, who serve as trustees of drainage districts, violate the clean water law by allowing high nitrate levels in water in the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, which are major sources of drinking water for Iowa’s capital city. The utility spends millions of dollars a year to remove the nitrates, which can cause health problems at high levels. Reck said the drainage district have no control over landowners who install subsurface drainage lines to draw excess water from their fields.