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“Conserving Our
Resources” is the theme this year at the DNR Courtyard Exhibit at the Iowa
State Fair on Tuesday, August 14th. The courtyard is on the west side of the DNR
Building at the fairgrounds. The DNR Water Supply program staff will be making
courtyard presentations from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., around the topic of “Every
Drop Counts – From the Ground to the Tap”.
There will be displays of lead plumbing, a working groundwater model, hands-on
filter demonstration, and jar testing. Coloring pages will be available, too.
On June 12, 2018, Governor Reynolds signed a
proclamation declaring August 19 - 25 as Water and Wastewater Workers
week - a week set aside to honor water and wastewater workers of the State of
Iowa. The Governor chose to issue this proclamation in recognition of the
workers that have dedicated themselves to applying environmental science to
enhance drinking and recreational waters of Iowa and to improving the
quality of life for all Iowans by preserving and protecting public health and
promoting sustainability. |
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Under
the 1996 reauthorized Safe Drinking Water Act, the DNR is required to publish
an annual report of the status of its public drinking water program.
The 2017 report is
available on the website.
The
report was compiled by the staff of the DNR, using data collected in 2017 from all active public
water supplies in the state. The report contains a summary of the
program, a description of the requirements that systems must meet, the year’s
violation statistics, and the list of the systems with each health-based
standard or major monitoring or reporting violation incurred during the
year.
The
photographs in the report are from Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund
projects, primarily those that were completed during the year. The maps
depict the public water supply system universe in Iowa and the locations of the
systems that incurred the health-based standards and major monitoring and
reporting violations. The maps are also separately listed on the website.
Iowa
had 1,841 active public water supply systems in 2017. Of those systems, 95.8% were
in compliance with all health-based drinking water standards, and 80.8% were in
compliance with all major monitoring and reporting requirements. There were no
waterborne disease outbreaks or deaths attributed to the drinking water at any
active public water supply in Iowa during the year.
The American Society of Civil Engineers has released their 2017 report
card of the
condition of the nation’s infrastructure, including drinking water.
The drinking
water report card’s overview states: “Drinking
water is delivered via one million miles of pipes across the country. Many of
those pipes were laid in the early to mid‐20th
century with a lifespan of 75 to 100 years. The quality of drinking water in
the United States remains high, but legacy and emerging contaminants continue
to require close attention. While water consumption is down, there are still an
estimated 240,000 water main breaks per year in the United States, wasting over
two trillion gallons of treated drinking water. According to the American Water
Works Association, an estimated $1 trillion is necessary to maintain and expand
service to meet demands over the next 25 years.”
The coliform bacteria
sampling plan templates have been updated to include the revised total coliform
rule requirements as well as to include the groundwater rule requirements that
had previously been in a separate plan.
There are several templates available, to accommodate the various
sampling frequencies and source water types.
The website has both .doc and .pdf versions, in fillable format. If you’d like a Word document that’s able to
be modified, please ask your water supply contact in the field office or WS
operations section, and it will be emailed to you.
Iowa
DNR staff in the water supply program areas are scheduled to speak at the
following events. The date, sponsor and
event, location, subject, and contact for more information are listed.
- August 28-29,
2018, AWWA-IA Section Fall Short Course, Ankeny. “IDNR WS Update; Discussion of Events at
Creston/SIRWA Panel; Nitrification in Distribution Systems.” Brochure and registration.
- September
11–12, 2018, IRWA Fall Conference, Okoboji.
“IDNR WS Update.” Brochure and
registration (agenda is at the bottom of the page)
- September 19, 2018, American Membrane Technology Association
(AMTA), North Liberty. “Membrane
Applications in Iowa and Regulatory Considerations.” Brochure and registration. Space limited to 50 attendees.
- September 27,
2018, SHL Laboratory Symposium, Coralville.
“IDNR Rules; Roundtable on Ammonia and Nitrite.” Brochure and registration.
- October 10,
2018. IA-AWWA Region 3 Workshop, Western
Iowa Tech., Cherokee. “IDNR WS
Update.” Brochure and registration
available at a later date. Contact Brad
Puetz, Sioux City Water Treatment Plant at 712-279-6130.
- October
23-24, 2018. IRWA Fall Conference,
Dubuque. “IDNR WS Update.” Brochure and registration (agenda is at the
bottom of the page)
For other
professional development opportunities, see the “Training Calendar” at programs.iowadnr.gov/opcertweb/.
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