DWD MAY 2025 NEWSLETTER
May 31, 2025
A Great Show
What a fabulous evening of music and clean water activism produced by Driftless Water Defenders in Decorah on May 8! The Steyer Opera House was super charged with grass roots energy stoked by stirring speeches from DWD leaders, and elevated to sublime purpose by Iowa’s great singer songwriters, led by Greg Brown, who donated their performances to DWD. The other artists at the DWD Benefit Concert, who thrilled a sold-out audience of more than 300, were Dave Moore, Pieta Brown, Jeffrey Foucault, Eric Heywood and The Weary Ramblers.
A big thank you to our more than 25 sponsors, and over 25 volunteers. A special thank you to Terri Mozzone, DWD’s Treasurer, who aligned all the details to produce a wonderful and memorable event.
For those who weren’t there, see our video of the concert on the DWD YouTube page. It’s free to watch. Still, donations to DWD are encouraged and appreciated.
Highlandville Clean Water School
On May 17, DWD opened the doors to nearly 50 students attending the first Highlandville Clean Water School. The one-day event included lessons and experiences intended to draw students closer to understanding the value of northeast Iowa’s clean water resources, and recognizing opportunities to prevent its degradation.
School curriculum included fly fishing, kayaking, hiking, bird watching, and water testing. The day also connected participants to music provided by Michael McElrath and ended with a traditional folk-dance with music provided by the Foot-Notes.. Thank you to Birgitta Meade, who teaches environmental science at Luther College, and, who led the day’s activities.
DWD leads other Iowa clean water advocacy groups in the “48 Lakes Initiative,” a summer-long citizen dialogue
One of the most important tools for solving Iowa’s water quality crisis is citizen action. DWD has shown itself to be creative and capable in directing attention and organizing public events that spotlight the state’s grievously polluted surface and groundwater.
In support of DWD’s clean water advocacy the group announced a summer-long program on May 21 called the “48 Lakes Initiative.” The process will engage Iowans in a new social media-based dialogue concerning the deteriorating quality of Iowa’s water and the adverse consequences those conditions are having on Iowans’ recreational uses of that water. The first event for this summer-long program occurred over Memorial Day weekend.
DWD is joined in this effort by other clean water advocacy groups: Progress Iowa, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and Food & Water Watch. The organizing groups believe that access to clean water is a fundamental right of Iowa citizens and that polluting practices are interfering with the exercise of that right.
Chris Jones, president of DWD, and author of The Swine Republic: Struggles with the Truth About Agriculture and Water Quality, explained the purpose of the new initiative: “The Iowa Code describes Iowa’s water as ‘public waters and public wealth,’ but too many people involved in industrial-agricultural practices are polluting our waters and are depriving Iowa families from recreational opportunities. The Iowa citizens’ dialogue we are starting today will help citizens to increase the accountability of polluters and governmental agencies responsible for enforcing the state’s environmental laws and regulations.”
"Iowa's lakes, rivers and beaches should be spaces we're proud of, that families from all over can enjoy free of worry," added Mazie Stilwell, Progress Iowa’s executive director. "But for Iowans, you either enter at your own risk or heed the warnings for fear of getting sick. Iowans are making it clear they're done with politicians and wealthy executives who let these waters deteriorate. Our health and safety should be more important than corporate profits. These are our waters, it's time we turn the tide and clean them up.”
48 Lakes Initiative Kickoff Event
Our new collaborative 48 Lakes Initiative attracted volunteers to show up over the Memorial Day weekend along the shores of 48 polluted Iowa lakes. Members and supporters took photos, produced videos, conducted interviews and reported on their experiences. Visit our website to hear testimonials.
DWD was especially interested in drawing attention to the ten most polluted lakes in Iowa: Lake Beeds, Lake Okoboji, Lake Darling, Pine Lake, Union Grove, Clear Lake, Nine Eagles, Lake Keomah, George Wyth and Backbone State Park.
Those who participated in the Initiative’s first weekend gained access to pollution data specific to those sites. A web page describes the statewide lake pollution:
https://www.driftlesswaterdefenders.com/48lakes-2
A data sheet for specific lakes can be found here: https://programs.iowadnr.gov/aquia/Programs/Lakes
We also want to know more about your 48 Lakes experience. Share your story, photographs, and video here: admin@driftlesswaterdefenders.com.
You can also share your photos, videos and stories with us on social media using the hashtags #48Lakes and #NoSwimEra. Please, don’t forget to tag us! Instagram: iadriftlesswaterdefenders
“It’s time to get serious about clean water in Iowa,” said Michaelyn Mankel, Iowa organizer for Food & Water Watch. “That means treating factory farming as the polluting industry it is. For too long, Iowa’s legislators have allowed factory farms to operate as sewer-less animal cities, with little to no oversight. We see the result in our beach closures, our contaminated drinking water, and our rising cancer rates. We encourage Iowans impacted by water pollution to join us and use their voice in advocating for solutions.”
Litigation Update
When necessary, DWD litigates to battle for cleaner water in Iowa. At this writing, there are a number of lawsuits in-progress concerning which DWD serves a Plaintiff, in opposition those whose actions threaten the quantity or quality of Iowa’s water.
Manure Digesters. Two lawsuits were filed by DWD in Winneshiek County against that jurisdiction’s Board of Supervisors (BOS) and Board of Adjustment (BOA) to stop actions by those boards to allow the construction of new cattle manure digesters near Ridgeway, westerly of Decorah. In response to DWD’s challenge to the BOA’s issuance of a conditional use permit, by filing a Petition for Writ of Certiorari to the Iowa District Court, the digesters’ permit applicants “surrendered” the permit back to the BOA. DWD’s challenge to the BOS in response to its rezoning agricultural land to a new commercial zone, by filing a separate Certiorari Petition with the Iowa District Court is still pending.
Supreme Beef Water Use Permit. DWD and Members of DWD have filed two separate lawsuits against the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR), challenging the agency’s re-issuance of a water use permit to the owners of Supreme Beef, one of Iowa’s largest enclosed beef-feeding operations located within a couple hundred feet of the headwaters of Bloody Run Creek, one of Iowa’s purest streams. DNR had earlier been issued a water use permit to Supreme Beef which was, after an evidentiary hearing, invalidated by an Administrative Law Judge and remanded back to the agency. The DNR’s action to re-issue a renewed permit to Supreme Beef after the matter had been remanded back to us resulted in the two lawsuits filed in the Iowa District Court for Clayton County.
CO2 Pipeline Challenge. DWD filed a Motion to Intervene in the appeals taken by those who oppose the decision of Iowa Utilities Commission (IUC) to allow Summit Carbon Solutions (“Summit”) to exercise powers of eminent domain to secure a route to move carbon dioxide through pipelines from multiple Iowa locations to the state of North Dakota. The evidentiary phase of the IUC proceeding concluded before DWD was created. The Iowa District Court, upon objections filed by Summit, ruled that DWD could not intervene as it had not been a party to the underlying proceeding. DWD, in its filed documents, noted that even though vast quantities of water would be used and chemically altered in the CO2-liquidation processes, the issue was not addressed by the IUC’s 504-page ruling. DWD takes the position that the pipeline’s operations in Iowa, if allowed to move forward, will pose serious, and long-term harms to the quantity and quality of Iowa’s water—a resource that the Iowa Code describes as the ”wealth of the people” of the state.
Agri Star Meat and Poultry, LLC. Driftless Water Defenders filed a lawsuit in the Federal District Court against Agri Star Meat and Poultry, LLC, located in Postville, alleging violations of the federal Clean Water Act caused by pollution discharges in excess of permitted amounts, causing damage to Hecker Creek and the Yellow River. The filing of the Complaint followed DWD’s issuance of a written notice to Agri Star in which DWD alleged that violations of the CWA had occurred and had continued to occur at the Agri Star processing facility. In the Complaint, DWD has alleged that under the CWA, a permitted facility must self-monitor and self-report its pollution discharges and that Agri Star’s reports indicate significant and repeated exceedances of pollution limits in waterways adjacent to the Postville facility for years. In addition, DWD has alleged that the facility has failed to take and report sampling results for a wide range of additional pollutants. Agri Star’s attorneys have filed an Answer and has denied certain allegations made by DWD. The litigation is in its early stages.
Attend DWD’s Annual Meeting
Join us for DWD’s annual meeting on June 21, 2025 at the Decorah Lutheran Church - 309 Winnebago St, Decorah, IA 52101. We will discuss current events, DWD’s various initiatives, how citizens can be effective clean water advocates, and much more. Featured speakers at our meeting will include: DWD President Chris Jones, DWD attorney Jim Larew, DWD Treasurer Terri Mozzone, DWD administrator Kate Robinson and Birgitta Meade. The meeting starts at 1.p.m.
