Blog

posted by Guest Blogger on Tuesday, November 12, 2024 Gabriel E. Lade, Associate Professor of Economics at Macalaster College, provides insight on his newest publication: 'Improving Private Well Testing Programs: Experimental Evidence from Iowa'. This intervention served to better understand private well water quality monitoring, while exploring interventions to improve current testing rates. Read on to learn more.

posted by Sarah Howe on Tuesday, November 5, 2024 In May, Water & Climate Resiliency Specialist Sarah Howe wrote Lead Service Lines and Replacement Efforts in Iowa to dig into the legacy of lead service lines (LSLs) in Iowa and share information from the DNR and federal resources to help Iowans as they think about their infrastructure needs. In October, the Biden-Harris Administration released their final Lead & Copper Rule Improvements as part of the Investing in America Agenda. Read on to learn more.

posted by Guest Blogger on Tuesday, October 8, 2024 This guest blog comes from Dan Haug, Water Quality Specialist for IEC Member Organization Prairie Rivers of Iowa, a not-for-profit organization based in Ames. Read on below to learn more about his work and the legacy of the IOWATER Program.

posted by Guest Blogger on Friday, August 23, 2024 Read this week's guest blog from Kristen Morrow, a Johnson County Conservation Naturalist. This blog features a first-hand account of what inclusivity and accessibility can look like in environmental education. Kristen discusses the programs in Johnson County that seek out marginalized groups to foster environmental awareness, stewardship, and recreation. Read on to learn more.

posted by Michael Schmidt on Friday, August 16, 2024 Although recent rains have brought Iowa out of drought, they also led to flooding and significant increases in nitrate loads to surface waters - the same nitrate leading to a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico the size of New Jersey. Tile drainage, the underground piping in cropland, has contributed to the flow of nitrate from fertilizer and manure. Read on to learn more.

posted by Guest Blogger on Friday, August 2, 2024 "Drought to Deluge" was written by Nick Blocha as a first-hand reflection of catastrophic flooding in northwest Iowa this summer. Blocha integrates emotional, personal accounts of his time in hands-on relief efforts, direct contact with some of those affected, as well as facts and relevant metrics looking at the causes of floods. Read on to learn more.

posted on Wednesday, July 31, 2024 Alliant Energy's Iowa affiliate, Interstate Power & Light, proposed a rate increase last October of $284 million per year. IEC intervened in the case early this year and partnered with the Environmental Law & Policy Center and Sierra Club to argue for better planning to transition to clean energy, as well as better protections for customers.

posted by Alicia Vasto on Friday, July 26, 2024 In this blog by Water Program Director Alicia Vasto, she explains Iowa's State Revolving Fund (SRF) and current financing projects in Council Bluffs, IA. The SRF is one of Iowa's primary resources for financing drinking water infrastructure and water quality improvement projects. Between the Clean Water Loan Program and Drinking Water Loan Program, communities, watershed groups, and public water systems can access low-interest loans to finance projects. Read on to learn more.

posted by Cody Smith on Friday, June 28, 2024 If you were to ask someone from another part of the country about their perceptions of Iowa, it is likely that a history of LGBTQ+ rights and environmental leadership wouldn't make the top of their list. However, for a small state in the heart of the country, Iowa has an impressive history of leadership in both-even if our state has failed to live up to that legacy in recent times. Read on to learn more about the state's legacy of pride and environmental justice.

posted by Sarah Howe on Wednesday, June 19, 2024 Juneteenth (short for "June Nineteenth") is a federal holiday commemorating the liberation of slaves in 1865. On June 17, 2021, it officially became a federal holiday. This year, IEC is commemorating Juneteenth by advocating and uplifting the work of Iowan celebrations, while also holding space for the decades of environmental inequities that continue across the state. Read on to learn more.