JFAN’s Question Submitted to the Fairfield Chamber for the March 21 Legislative Forum

Photo: Shutterstock.com/Pixel-Shot

On July 1 the state’s water quality sensor network that provides real-time nitrate monitoring will cease functioning. This would especially affect rural municipal water systems that rely on the IIHR network high nitrate level warnings. Would you support restoring funding for the IIHR water quality sensor network by allocating $1 million/year from the Groundwater Protection Fund where funds are already available?

Additional Information for Our Legislators

The Groundwater Protection fund is self-funding with fees coming from nitrogen fertilizer and pesticide registrations.

The IIHR water quality sensor network needs $600,000 to conduct real-time nitrate monitoring and an additional $400,000 to expand the system to include additional toxins such as microcystin, E.coli, harmful byproducts of water purification over Safe Drinking Water Act standards, and PFAS. This amounts to $1 million year and breaks down to 32¢/Iowan a year from funds that are already available.

An additional $500,000 one-time request is being made to replace old equipment.

Information about the sensor program:

• The 60 IIHR sensors primarily monitor waterways that serve smaller municipalities.

• 11 USGS sensors are located upstream from large urban centers, which they serve.

• USDA sensors are located at research farms, are important for research but do not broadly serve Iowans.

• The DNR takes monthly data from 60 locations and runs ambient river and lake monitoring with a one-year latency period in data reporting. Useful for reporting Gulf of Mexico loads but not real-time nitrate concentration data.

• Data from continuous IIHR sensors and DNR snapshots overlap on graphics charting the data.

The University of Iowa IIHR Water Quality Sensor program is a state-of-the art system and the most sophisticated in the nation. It is respected as a model for water monitoring around the country.

Iowa made a $4 million investment to develop this network, money that will be lost if funding is not restored. Funds to rebuild the system at a later data would cost much more.