Mount Ayr avoids water supply issues
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Several recent news sources report a growing number of Iowa residents being asked to conserve water due not only to dry conditions but also to high nitrate levels in water supplies.
Cami Koons with the Iowa Capital Dispatch noted the Central Iowa Water Works issued its first ever lawn watering ban on June 12 due to high nitrate levels in the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers, the water source for more than 600,000 people in the Des Moines region.
Koons further reported that the Regional Water Rural Water Association (RWRWA) headquartered in Avoca had recently issued a number of boil orders and water usage restrictions due to low water levels in their wellfield. RWRWA serves the counties of Shelby, Audubon, Cass, Harrison, and northern Potttwattamie.
To date, the Southern Iowa Rural Water Association (SIRWA), which serves Mount Ayr, Diagonal, and a large portion of south central Iowa, has not encountered either low water supply levels or higher than acceptable nitrate levels.
Local water supplies come from Three Mile Lake near Afton.
SIRWA co-general manager Jeff Rice credits the design of Three Mile Lake, the water supply for the area, as a significant factor in lower nitrate levels.
“We’re lucky to have a surface water source rather than rivers or creeks,” he said. “When it was created in the early 90s, a number of smaller watersheds were built above the lake to help filter run-off from farm fields.”
In addition to the filtering watersheds, Rice noted the amount of area draining into the lake is another significant factor in keeping nitrate levels within acceptable parameters.
“The ideal ratio of drainage area to lake surface area is 20:1,” he said. “Three Mile has a ratio of 26:1. It’s the perfect lake.”
Water levels are also not a factor at Three Mile.
Over the past several months, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources had lowered the level of Three Mile Lake, the SIRWA water source, about eight feet to make improvements along the shoreline and increase fish habitat.
Upon completion of that $4.3 million project, the water release gates were closed back in December, and lake levels are slowly returning to normal.
As noted earlier, nitrate levels have a significant impact on the safety rating of available drinking water.
Nitrates have been linked to incidences of cancer and problems related to reproduction and thyroid issues.
According to its latest Water Quality Report published in the June 12 Record-News, SIRWA reported nitrate levels of 10 parts per million (ppm), a ratio within acceptable regulatory limits.
By comparison, the Capital Dispatch reports that the Des Moines Water Works recorded nitrate levels as high as 15.6 ppm in the Des Moines River and 15.3 ppm in the Raccoon River as recently as Monday, June16.
Those levels triggered the usage restrictions as treatment plants limit production to concentrate on supplying safe drinking water to their customers.
