Report: CO2 pipeline would pull more water from Iowa aquifers

If Summit’s proposed CO2 pipeline is approved, the water used by ethanol plants on and off the route would be equal to the annual water use of 529,000 people — more than the population of the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City corridor, according to a new Sierra Club report.

The 195-page report digs into water used by Iowa’s ethanol industry and additional water that would be needed to capture CO2 at ethanol plants on the route of the proposed Summit Carbon Solutions pipeline, now under review by the Iowa Utilities Board.

“There are so many reasons to be against the sequestration pipelines, but the extraordinary water use of the ethanol industry is at the top of the list,” Don Johannsen said during a news conference Thursday.

Johannsen, 76, of Potosi, Wis., owns his family farm near Cherokee in northwest Iowa. Summit wants to run the pipeline through the farm and Johannsen has been opposed to the plan since 2021.

Summit declined to comment on the report. The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association called the report “erroneous.”

“The Iowa Sierra Club’s selective concern over water use is more proof of how unserious they have become,” Executive Director Monte Shaw said in a statement. “This is nothing more than another baseless attempt at scaring people."

How much water does ethanol production use?

Johannsen, a retired mechanical engineer, started examining water use of Iowa’s ethanol plants and was surprised to learn the industry in Iowa is the third-largest user of water from bedrock aquifers — trailing only public water systems and industrial/commercial use.

Iowa’s 42 ethanol plants are capable of producing 4.5 billion gallons of ethanol a year, according to the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. Summit’s proposed CO2 pipeline would connect to 31 of the 42 ethanol plants in Iowa.

If it takes 3 gallons of water to produce each gallon of ethanol — a figure used in the Sierra Club report, but also cited by the Nebraska Corn Board — it means Iowa’s ethanol industry uses up to 13.5 billion gallons of water a year.

Capturing CO2 produced in the ethanol process uses additional water, according to a study published in 2021 in the journal Science Direct. The Sierra Club report estimates carbon capture uses another gallon of water per gallon of ethanol, with the largest need being to cool equipment used to pressurize the gas into a liquid that can be pumped via pipeline.

“Using a ratio of 1.05 gallons of water for the carbon dioxide capture facility per gallon of ethanol produced, based on an Illinois State Geological Survey circular, the total water usage for carbon dioxide capture at Summit’s 31 ethanol plant partners is 3.36 billion gallons of water per year,” the Sierra Club report states.

More state oversight needed, group says

Nearly all — 90 percent — of the water used for ethanol production comes from bedrock aquifers, which take hundreds to thousands of years to recharge, the Sierra Club reported. Iowa also has alluvial aquifers, which are shallow deposits of sand and gravel beside rivers.

The Iowa Legislature allocated $250,000 this year for a study of Iowa’s aquifers to make sure they don’t run dry with increased use.

A primary focus of the study in its first year will be examining the Dakota aquifer, where underground water levels have lowered by 10 feet or more in recent years, according to State Geologist Keith Schilling.

“Over the years, the DNR has been handing out water permits like candy with no consideration of the impact on groundwater resources,” said Wally Taylor of Cedar Rapids, a lawyer for the Sierra Club Iowa Chapter, said Thursday.

The DNR received 118 applications for new water use permits or major modifications in fiscal 2023, the highest number since at least fiscal 2016. The state agency has never denied an application.

To get a permit to tap into Iowa’s aquifers, applicants must show “beneficial use,” but the Sierra Club would like the DNR to clarify that is meant to be beneficial use for the public, not the customer seeking the permit.

The group also wants a comprehensive aquifer study — which will take more money than the $250,000 appropriation granted this year.

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