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. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]