Trial Delayed in Iowa Water Quality Case

The legal battle over water quality in Iowa will not make it to trial this summer.

The judge, who was reassigned to the case in February, cannot honor the August trial date set prior to his assignment.

The case began in March 2015 when Des Moines Water Works sued boards of supervisors in three northwest Iowa counties (Buena Vista, Calhoun and Sac) and 10 drainage districts.

Water Works claims in the suit that high nitrate levels from farm fields northwest of Des Moines are entering the Raccoon River and impacting the source of drinking water in central Iowa.

The utility wants drainage districts to be required to get pollution discharge permits under the federal Clean Water Act. The lawsuit specifically declares the tile drainage pipes and ditches operated by the drainage districts as “point sources which transport a high concentration of nitrates contained in groundwater.”

The subsurface tile drainage system helped turn the Raccoon River watershed into one of the most productive crop and livestock areas in the U.S.

In late March, the three defendant counties filed a motion asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit’s claims regarding the drainage districts’ contribution to nitrate levels, arguing that expert reports suggest the counties contributions are negligible.

Officials of the Des Moines Water Works filed a resistance brief asking the federal court to deny the defendants’ motion and arguing evidence is clear. The brief emphasized the public significance of the litigation and the fact that no federal court in the U.S. has ever considered these legal issues.

The utility asserts that the text of the Clean Water Act and Congressional and regulatory history show that the defendants are required to obtain permits for the discharge of nitrates downstream.

The Raccoon River drains 3,625 square miles, which is equal to 2.3 million acres, in west-central Iowa.

Sources: Farm Progress and The Progressive Farmer S