DRIFTLESS WATER DEFENDERS JOINS WITH OTHER CLEAN-WATER ADVOCACY GROUPS TO INITIATE A STATEWIDE CLEAN-WATER CITIZEN DIALOGUE
“As Memorial Day nears, many Iowans look forward to a day at a nearby beach. I can remember my folks taking us kids to Lake Ahquabi, along with a picnic lunch of sandwiches or cold fried chicken, way back in the day. Opportunities for a low-stress, low-cost mini-vacation for a family with young children are a wholesome, quality-of-life enhancement, a respite away from screens, stress and the modern non-stop compulsion to be ‘connected.’ And you can’t beat beating the heat and humidity of an Iowa summer with a cool dip. Nothin’ makes the young-ins sleep at night like a day at the beach. But if you’re reading this, I’m sure you know we have a perennial problem at our beaches and that problem is poor water quality. Immersing your body in a lake or stream is primally invigorating, an effect that lingers for several hours, right up until the moment your 8-year-old pukes onto your bed at 3 a.m. while you wonder if the potato salad went bad or if he swallowed some lake water.” - Chris Jones, DWD President. Attached is Chris Jones’ latest substack article, “Pick Your Poison,” about Iowa’s polluted lakes.
DECORAH—Driftless Water Defenders, an Iowa non-profit membership clean water advocacy group, today announced a summer-long initiative aimed to engage Iowans in a new dialogue concerning the deteriorating quality of Iowa’s water and the adverse impact it is having on Iowans’ recreational uses of that water.
Called the “48 Lakes Initiative,” the summer-long program launches on Saturday, May 24. Ten state-owned lakes that annually suffer repeated “swim not recommended” advisories due to unhealthy amounts of pollution will serve as the sites for informal gatherings of citizens, to be convened at 11:00 a.m., attendees are invited to meet and share their stories with each other and on social media platforms created for this project about their diminished uses of these public assets. Persons who are unable to attend are encouraged to join in the social media dialogues.
The ten meeting sites are as follows:
- Pine Lake
- George Wyth
- Union Grove State Park
- Lake Okoboji
- Clear Lake
- Nine Eagles State Park
- Lake Keomah
- Lake Darling
- Backbone State Park
- Beeds Lake
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 current polluting practices are interfering with the exercise of that right.
Those who attend the meetings at these ten sites will be provided with pollution data specific to those sites. A web page created for the initiative describes the statewide lake pollution problem. It is located at https://www.driftlesswaterdefenders.com/48lakes-2
As summer begins, so too will the monitoring of 39 state-owned beaches by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The DNR will monitor for a variety of contaminants, but of most interest are: E. coli bacteria and microcystin. These pollutants can cause harmful neurological effects, respiratory illnesses, skin rashes, and more. A data sheet for various lakes is attached and more information about various lakes can be found at: https://programs.iowadnr.gov/aquia/Programs/Lakes
The summer-long dialogue of Iowa citizens will describe in personal terms the adverse impacts that polluted lakes can have on their lives and the opportunities of their families.
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," said 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."
Julie Russell-Steuart, serving as social media consultant for the project, described going to George Wyth lake when she was visiting her cousins in Iowa as a teenager as “carefree,” but now she feels nervous about stepping in, given that the lake has been closed for swimming so many times in recent years.
“This issue is deeply important to CCI's membership. For too long, state and federal leaders have ignored the problem of Iowa’s polluted waterways while pandering to corporate ag. We’ve reached a crisis point and Iowa’s empty beaches should be a wakeup call for all.” -Kim Callahan of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement
Food & Water Watch Iowa Organizer Michaelyn Mankel said: “It’s time to get serious about clean water in Iowa. 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 including passage of the Clean Water for Iowa Act.”
Participants of the meetings and others who unable to attend are encouraged to share their photos, videos, and stories concerning their experiences with, and thoughts about, Iowa’s lakes via social media, using the hashtags #NoSwimEra and #48Lakes and to tag us:
Instagram: iadriftlesswaterdefenders
Facebook: Driftless Water Defenders
X: IAWaterDefender
For further information concerning DWD’s 48 Lakes Initiative, please contact DWD’s Attorney James Larew at 319-541-4240 or at admin@driftlesswaterdefenders.com.
Attached: Chris Jones’ Substack Article “Pick Your Poison”
