State Drought Plan, NPDES General Permits, Water Use Stakeholder Meeting and More

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources along with the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department are developing a drought plan for the state. There are a number of meetings set to take place later this summer where members can provide feedback. You can register below.

• Iowa Falls - Wednesday, July 6
• Sioux City - Wednesday, July 20
• Cedar Rapids - Thursday, July 21
• Creston - Friday, July 22
• Virtual - Wednesday, August 3

The NPDES Section of the DNR is proposing a rule change that will renew five of Iowa’s NPDES general permits for wastewater discharges. These general permits cover certain wastewater discharges from mining and processing facilities (GP5), well construction activities (GP6), pesticide applications (GP7), hydrostatic testing, tank ballasting, and water lines (GP8), and dewatering activities and household geothermal systems (GP9). GP8 and GP9 are proposed to be renewed because the permits will expire on June 30, 2023. Proposed changes to these two general permits will clarify existing permit requirements and address needs identified during the initial permit term. GP5, GP6 and GP7 are proposed to be renewed at the same time in order to align the effective dates for all five general permits so that future renewal rule makings for these permits can be combined. Minimal changes are proposed for these three general permits. A public hearing on proposed rules will be held via Zoom on July 6th from 1:00 - 2:00 pm. If you wish to make oral comments at the public hearing, please contact David Schelling. You can register for the meeting here. More information on the general permit renewals can be found here.

The DNR’s annual water use stakeholder meeting will take place on Tuesday, July 19th at 1:30 pm. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the water use & allocation program activities and the water permit annual fee. It will be held via Google Meet. If you would like to register, please contact Heidi Cline.

An email with detailed information on all three of these events was sent out to the Environment Committee on Wednesday. If you would like to receive that email or be added to the Environment Committee, please contact Brad Hartkopf at bhartkopf@iowaabi.org.