Iowa deserves clean water

To the editor:
For a while now, it has seemed that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is doing everything in their power to make sure factory farm polluters can keep polluting the water.
Just last year, the DNR proposed to weaken E. Coli rules to hide the fact that more and more Iowa beaches are not safe to swim at. When members of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) introduced ways the DNR can strengthen the Master Matrix, the DNR outright denied the petition.
In the past year Hamilton, Franklin, Wayne, Hardin, Humboldt, Webster, Buena Vista and potentially more counties have recommended denial of factory farm applications. But, the DNR has found a reason to override the local decision and approve the permit anyways.
I have been part of and support CCI’s 11-year campaign to make the DNR bring the factory farm industry into compliance with the federal Clean Water Act. The DNR should be working to protect the water—not the factory farm industry.
We know that the DNR still has a lot of work to do so that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cannot let the DNR off the hook in August.
The water crisis is serious. It’s only a matter of time before the public starts seeing no-drink orders. The water is worth fighting for.
Jeanette Bauer,
Ankeny