New non-profit organization, Driftless Water Defenders, advocates for clean water
by Lissa Blake
Citizens have the right to demand clean water.
And a newly formed non-profit organization is helping rally the state’s population around that cause.
About 30 interested citizens attended a Monday, August 5 presentation at Robey Memorial Library in Waukon, hosted by the Driftless Water Defenders (DWD), Iowa’s newest clean water advocacy organization.
The northeast Iowa-based membership organization began just six months ago and has already grown to more than 100 members. Its focus is teaching Iowa communities about the sources of water pollution, adverse health effects of drinking polluted water and how Iowa communities can advocate for cleaner water.
James Larew, a practicing Iowa attorney and environmental advocate, has experience in government as former chief of staff and legal counsel for former Iowa Governor Chet Culver. Through the years, he said deficient regulatory practices inspired him to begin practicing environmental advocacy.
Larew, Registered Agent for the DWD, works closely with law students at the University of Iowa, who have helped him organize meetings and draft a formal letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) about water quality issues in Iowa.
“It’s not bad if the government thinks people are demanding cleaner water,” he said.
Larew said he is in favor of an amendment to the Iowa Constitution that guarantees Iowans access to clean water.
THEIR MISSION
Larew explained the DWD’s three functions are to advocate, educate and litigate matters concerning the protection of Iowa’s water. He noted the “recent and alarming trends” in commercial agriculture.
“Water belongs to the people, not the barons,” he said, adding “public water equals public wealth.”
BLOODY RUN
Retired Iowa State University Chemist Steve Veysey next lamented the success of Supreme Beef LLC in putting up an 11,000-head open feedlot near the headwaters of Bloody Run Creek outside Monona.
“There are five sinkholes within 300 feet of those barns,” he said.
He said if the project had been classified as a CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) instead of an open feedlot, the Clayton County Supervisors could have done a Master Matrix public comment process.
“We have shallow aquifers being contaminated by nitrogen and E.Coli. It is a bad situation,” he said.
CHRIS JONES
Next to present at the August 5 meeting was DWD President Chris Jones, who has a B.A. in chemistry and biology and a PhD in analytical chemistry. He is the author of The Swine Republic: Struggles with the Truth about Agriculture and Water Quality.
He served as lab supervisor at Des Moines Water Works from 2003-2011, Environmental Scientist at the Iowa Soybean Association from 2011-2015, and a Research Engineer & Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Iowa from 2015-2023.
His research interests span from contaminant hydrology, nutrient and sediment transport, to agriculture and water quality. He said northeast Iowa “through geological accident still has environmental integrity.”
He went on to say “so much of the state is a lost cause,” (referring to impaired water quality). “We need to fight tooth and nail from it happening here.”
Jones next talked about nitrogen run-off and how citizens should demand a reduction in application of nitrogen and phosphorus in commercial farming. “The industry controls the message, so we all think things are getting better,” he said.
Also referenced was the fact Iowa has the second highest cancer rate in the country, behind the state of Kentucky, but the highest in the nation for rising cancer rates.
“We’re not against the farmer, we’re against the pollution,” concluded Jones.
MORE INFO
To learn more about the DWD, visit www.driftlesswaterdefenders.com, phone 319-541-4240 or email admin@driftlesswaterdefenders.com.
