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There are several changes and new additions to DNR management and to staff working in the Water Supply and Water Use program areas.
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Alex Moon has been promoted to the Deputy Director position at DNR, which was vacant due to the retirement of Bruce Trautman. He has been the Land Quality Bureau Chief for many years, and most recently, was also the acting Water Quality Bureau Chief. Tim Hall is currently the acting LQB Chief, and Adam Schnieders is the acting WQ Bureau Chief.
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Ed Tormey has been promoted to the position of Environmental Services Division Administrator for DNR. He’d been the acting DA since Bill Ehm retired last year, and had previously been the DNR’s chief attorney for many years.
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Jacob Donaghy, Environmental Specialist at FO2 in Mason City. Jake comes to the DNR from the Cedar Rapids Water Works, and is working in the water and wastewater program areas. Jake has a Bachelor’s degree from ISU and a Master’s degree from UNI, both in environmental science. Jake fills a vacancy due to promotion.
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Matt Dvorak, Geologist 2, is moving from DNR’s Water Quality Standards program to the Source Water Program in Des Moines, where he’ll be maintaining the public wells and groundwater capture zone GIS coverages and will produce the Phase 1 source water assessments and capture zones for the Source Water Protection Program as part of his duties. Matt received his Master’s degree in Environmental Science from ISU and holds a graduate certificate in GIS. Matt fills a vacancy due to the retirement of Bob Rowden.
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Casey Laskowski, Environmental Specialist in the Water Supply Operations Section in Des Moines, is working in the State Revolving Fund program as a project manager for both the SRF Environmental Reviews and Water Resource Restoration Sponsored Projects. She comes to the section from the DNR’s Air Quality Bureau. She received her Bachelor’s degree in biology from UNI, and her Master’s degree in environmental studies from Antioch University New England. Casey fills a vacancy due to resignation.
The Lead and Copper Rule requires a Consumer Notice be provided to each home where a sample was collected during the routine compliance monitoring, with that home’s sample result.
If your Public Water Supply collected lead and copper samples during the period of June 1 through September 30, 2019, the Consumer Notice is due to DNR by December 31, 2019. There are currently 121 water supplies that have not submitted the required documentation indicating the Consumer Notice was provided to the residents who participated in the Lead and Copper Sampling Program. To satisfy the requirements of Consumer Notice, once you have provided the analytical results to the consumer, you must provide to DNR:
- ONE copy (DNR does not need a copy of all 5, 10, 20, etc., results) of the Consumer Notice with the analytical lead result (the copper result is optional but many water supplies provide both lead and copper to the residents) and
- The completed signed certification indicating the date you provided the Consumer Notice to the resident.
Consumer Notice Templates can be found on the DNR's website. There are four templates: two for community systems and two for nontransient noncommunity systems. Of the two per system type, one template is for lead, one is for lead and copper.
The template is a two page document, which includes the mandatory language and has blanks for the analytical result, the address of the sample, the sample date, and contact information for the system operator. This is the page that you’ll complete with the specific sampling location’s data, and then you will provide to the consumer. In addition, the second page is the certification which documents the date you provided this information to the consumer and must be signed by a representative of the Public Water Supply.
Both pages must be returned to the Iowa DNR no later than December 31, 2019, to remain in compliance with the Lead and Copper rule. If you have any questions, please contact the Environmental Specialist listed in your operation permit.
This is a reminder for water use permit holders that the annual water use permit fee payment is due by December 1st. A reminder invoice was sent the first week in November to those permit holders whose payment had not yet been received. This year’s fee is $95.00 per year. As of this morning, we have approximately 600 fee payments that have not been received. After December 1st, a $100 late fee will apply.
The Iowa DNR Director Kayla Lyon is encouraging Iowa's Wastewater Operators to participate in the National Study of Nutrient Removal and Secondary Technologies: Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW). In her October 31, 2019, letter to Iowa’s POTWs: “The purpose of the study is to obtain nationwide data on nutrient removal to help set more realistic and achievable nutrient reductions, help POTWs understand the range of opportunities to optimize nutrient removals based on data from their peers, and encourage improved POTW nutrient removal performance with less expense.
This is a multi-phase effort and the first phase of the study is a screener questionnaire. The goal of the questionnaire is to identify and characterize the full population of POTWs in the country that discharge to a water of the U.S. This information will be used to help establish a baseline of nutrient performance at the national level for all POTWs.”
The survey is available here. To encourage participation, continuing education credits are being offered to wastewater operators that complete the study.
A copy of the EPA completion certificate must be submitted to Laurie Sharp at laurie.sharp@dnr.iowa.gov, and 3 hours of continuing education credit is allowed.
EPA wants the responses by next Tuesday, November 26th (the Tuesday before Thanksgiving).
Contact Adam Schnieders at adam.schnieders@dnr.iowa.gov or (515)238-0551 with any questions about the survey.
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