ICCI Raises Environmental Questions About Flooding
By ICCI

The recent floods in Iowa have drawn attention to the fact that the state's waterways are some of the most polluted in the nation. Iowans shouldn't have to wonder the toxic effects of floodwaters on their health and their homes, and that is why Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (Iowa CCI) will address the need to clean up Iowa's waterways at its July 18-19 Statewide Convention at the Hotel Fort Des Moines. More information and registration can be found at www.iowacci.org

David Osterberg, Executive Director of the Iowa Policy Project, will lead a workshop at the convention that will give Iowans new ideas and information for the fight to clean up Iowa's waters.

"The floodwaters that have inundated Iowa this month point out the need to ensure better water quality in the first place," CCI member Lori Nelson of Bayard said. "Health officials have repeatedly warned people that the flood waters contain dangerous pollutants."

CCI members from all across the state have been fighting hard to get government officials to clean up our waterways and hold factory farms accountable for the pollution they create. In May, CCI members petitioned the Iowa Department of Natural Resources' (DNR) Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) to ban factory farms from applying manure on frozen or snow-covered ground which when it melts, runs off and contaminates waterways. CCI submitted this petition in response to record levels of pollution in rivers and streams across the state this spring.

"The DNR and the EPC have a chance to do something about our polluted waterways," said CCI member Jack Troeger from Ames.  "If they care about our health, they should support our rule-making petition and ban the application of factory farm manure on frozen ground."