Action Alert
Thursday  April 17, 2003

Help protect Iowa's water quality!  Contact your Representative about Senate File 343 today and ask them to oppose it.

This bill relates to protection of cold water streams that receive discharges from public wastewater treatment plants.  The bill was initiated by the City of Garnavillo after the Iowa DNR recommended that the use designation of a portion of South Cedar Creek that receives wastewater from the city's sewage treatment plant be upgraded from "general use" to a "cold water stream."  The bill has already passed the Senate and may come up for debate on the House floor soon.

SF 343 states that if the Environmental Protection Commission (at the recommendation of the Iowa DNR) changes a stream use designation to "cold water stream" for a stream that receives discharges from a publicly owned disposal system (wastewater treatment plant), the publicly owned disposal system will not be required to obtain a new operation permit or be in compliance with changes to the existing operation permit for the disposal system until the Environmental Protection Commission adopts and publishes "scientifically sound methods" for the review of use designations of cold water streams.

TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO OPPOSE SF 343 BECAUSE:
1. There is nothing broken with the process used to designate stream uses; legislation is not needed to fix it.  This legislation is unnecessary and does not address the true nature of the current and future problems faced by small communities in Iowa that may be required to make improvements to their wastewater treatment plants. 
2. There are sources of funding, such as the State Revolving Loan Fund, available to communities that need to make improvements to their wastewater treatment plants to protect the designated uses of the river or stream receiving the wastewater discharge.
3.  If a community is unable to secure adequate funds needed for improvements, a variance to new permit limits necessary to support the new or upgraded use designation may be granted if the city demonstrates to the Environmental Protection Commission that the required improvements present an economic hardship on the community. This variance would allow the community time to find an economically feasible solution.

Urge your legislators to consider all of the facts surrounding the South Cedar Creek situation before moving forward with legislation that is unnecessary and does not address the true nature of the problem faced by the City of Garnavillo and possibly other communities in the future.  Economic development is important.  Maintaining and supporting strong local communities is important.  Protecting our precious natural resources for future generations is important.  There are solutions that can achieve all three goals.

Please call or email your Representative today.  To find your legislator and get their contact information, go to <http://www4.legis.state.ia.us/find-leg>.


Background Information:
Hundreds of streams in NE Iowa have been evaluated by DNR Fisheries and Water Resources staff over the past twelve years.  More than 110 have been determined to meet the definition of "cold water stream" and have been designated as B(CW).

The portion of South Cedar Creek that runs through the City of Garnavillo, is currently classified as a general use stream (which receives the lowest level of protection), while the lower portion is classified as a cold water stream.  The upper portion of South Cedar Creek was recently evaluated by DNR and found to meet the definition of a cold water stream.  The DNR evaluation establishes that the entire length of South Cedar Creek is a spring fed perennial stream, does NOT go dry, and DOES maintain a varied and viable cold water aquatic life community. As a result of this evaluation, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources proposed to change the use designation for the upper portion of South Cedar Creek to B(CW), to protect the cold water stream characteristics found by IDNR Fisheries Division staff.

All of the current B(CW) streams have been carefully evaluated by DNR before being recommended for this designation.  All of them have been discussed at public meetings, comments for and against have been reviewed, and all of them have received the approval of the Environmental Protection Commission.  This same procedure is being followed with the proposed designation change of South Cedar Creek.  There is nothing broken with this process; legislation is not needed to fix it.

This bill does not address the real problem for Garnavillo.  If the use designation change to South Cedar Creek occurs, Garnavillo will be required to make improvements to its wastewater treatment plant.  These changes may be difficult for a small community to afford, depending on the treatment technology chosen to solve the problem and the availability of financial assistance (including the State Revolving Loan Fund) which was set up for this purpose.

Instead of making a use designation change dependent upon whether the city can afford to make the necessary improvements to the wastewater treatment plant, the Environmental Protection Commission and IDNR should be allowed to move forward with the rulemaking process.  Economic concerns should be factored in after the designation change is made and the affected city determines what improvements are needed to comply with the new use designation.  At that point, if it is determined that the required improvements present an economic hardship, a variance to new permit limits necessary to support the new or upgraded use designation may be granted to allow the community time to find an economically feasible solution.
 
We are not suggesting that the City of Garnavillo should be subjected to fines for past or present violations or should be forced to reach compliance with new wastewater permit requirements immediately.  We are asking that South Cedar Creek (and others streams) be properly designated.  We want to help Garnavillo - with the assistance of DNR, wastewater professionals, and conservation groups - find a cost-effective way to reduce the impact they are having on South Cedar Creek.


Erin E. Jordahl
Director, Iowa Chapter Sierra Club
3839 Merle Hay Road, Suite 280
Des Moines, IA 50310
515-277-8868
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www.iowa.sierraclub.org
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