Forwarded by Jane Clark

FOUR TMDL MEETINGS SCHEDULED FOR NEXT WEEK

Four public meetings regarding five impaired waterbodies in Iowa will be
held during the next week at Orient, Corning, Delhi and Cedar Rapids.

TMDL's - or Total Maximum Daily Loads - is the name of the process being
used to address waters considered to be impaired. Simply put, TMDL's are
calculations used to determine how much of a pollutant a water body can
receive and still maintain its designated use such as maintaining aquatic
life, allowing body contact such as swimming or being used as a drinking
water supply.

Iowa has 157 waterbodies listed as impaired. Bill Ehm, coordinator of the
DNR's TMDL program, said use of the term "impaired water" often
unintentionally implies more serious problems than what are actually being
experienced.

"People hear the word 'impaired' and the first thing that comes to mind is
chemicals or some kind of cancer-causing pollutant. By far, the biggest
problem in this state in terms of water quality is that our water is simply
too muddy," Ehm said.

Much of the focus at the upcoming meetings will be on what data has been
collected on the waterbody to document the problem and what steps are being
taken to develop a plan to address the impairment.

"The good news is that we have the knowledge and expertise to address many
of the problems associated with erosion and there are governmental programs
available to provide some financial assistance to private landowners
interested in doing things to improve water quality," Ehm said.

The schedule for TMDL meetings to be next week is as follows:

Orient Lake: 1:30 p.m., Monday, Jan. 29, Farmers & Merchants Bank meeting
room, Orient.
West Lake and Binder Lake:  7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29, Community Center, 601
Sixth St., Corning.
Silver Lake: 1:30 p.m. , Thursday, Feb. 1, City Hall community room, 316
Franklin St., Delhi.
Cedar Lake: 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1, Lynch Room, Gage Memorial Union, Coe
College, Cedar Rapids.

Orient Lake, Lake Binder and West Lake are all listed as impaired because
of excess sediment. Silver Lake is listed as impaired due to nutrient and
organic enrichment because of run-off from the watershed. It has a high
frequency of fish kills.

 Cedar Lake is listed as impaired due to chlordane. Chlordane, once used
for extermination of termites, is considered to be a carcinogen and its use
has been banned by the federal government since 1988. Because chlordane
attaches to sediments and does not readily degrade, there has been a fish
consumption advisory placed on all fish caught in Cedar Lake since March of
1986.

Additional information on the TMDL program is available on the DNR's
website at: http://www.state.ia.us/epd/wtresrce/303dnotc.htm.

For more information, contact Kevin Baskins at (515) 281-8395 or Bill Ehm
at (515) 281-8143.

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