EPA Approves Iowa's List of Impaired Waters
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved Iowa's 2008 list of impaired waters. This decision will help the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) set priorities for restoration activities to improve water quality in the coming years.
EPA’s August 3, 2010, decision letter provides a more detailed description of EPA’s review and the basis for this action. The decision letter, including the 2008 impaired waters list, is available at epa.gov/region07/news_events/legal/.
IDNR submitted its impaired waters list to EPA for review and approval as required by the Clean Water Act, which requires the federal agency to review the state’s list of impaired waters to determine if the state reasonably considered available water quality–related data, and identified waters to be listed.
With this action, EPA is approving Iowa's decision to include 183 waters and remove 54 waters from the impaired waters list, bringing the total number of impaired waters in the state to 434.