Iowa can’t afford weak water protections

Growing up in rural Eastern Iowa, much of my childhood centered around the Cedar River. As a kid, there was nothing better than going to Palisades-Kepler State Park and wading in the river, fishing, or just sitting on a rock and watching the water’s steady flow toward the Mississippi. As I’ve grown older, I still enjoy visiting the Cedar, but today, the water isn’t the same — it’s become too dangerous to wade in or fish.

Agricultural runoff has turned the Cedar from one of the state’s cleanest bodies of water into one of its most polluted. The body of water that played a huge role in my childhood now reaches nitrate levels that make it unsafe for today’s children to drink.

The pollution of the Cedar has become a cause for concern not only for nature lovers but also for the nearly 130,000 people of Cedar Rapids and the surrounding areas who rely on its shallow sand wells for drinking water. In my lifetime, I’ve watched the Cedar go from a pure body of water to a severely polluted one, and the same thing has been happening to rivers throughout Iowa.

Cedar Rapids has taken action to combat this problem, spending millions of dollars on water purification efforts. However, the progress that’s been made is currently under threat. That threat is the PERMIT Act, sponsored by Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia, which would drastically reduce the scope of the Clean Water Act — the nation’s primary legislation governing water pollution. As Iowans, we depend on federal legislation to keep our state’s water clean, as Iowa’s state regulations are only as strict as their federal counterparts. Our water ranks in the top 1% for nitrate levels in the nation, and the PERMIT Act threatens to open the door for the water we all rely on to be polluted even further.

The bill is currently stalled because of the government shutdown, but it will be debated in the House soon after it reopens. That’s why it’s important not to forget about the PERMIT Act during this time — and not to forget about the threat it poses to all of us. No Iowan should fear that their water isn’t safe to drink, and every Iowan should be able to enjoy the beauty our state has been blessed with without worry. If you want to take action to protect our water and protect Iowa, call your representative and tell them to vote no on the PERMIT Act.

Lincoln Stensland is a political science major at Central College and a native of Eastern Iowa.