Central Iowa leaders are investing millions in water trails. But can they overcome water-quality concerns? - desmoinesregister.com

Show Caption

Hannah Ray J spends every hour she has free navigating whitewater rapids on her kayak and surfboard. Year-round.

That might be commonplace in Colorado. But she's building her adventure lifestyle in Iowa, where a handful of small river cities have modified dams to create freefall drops and other challenges for Ray J and her fellow paddlesports enthusiasts.

Ray J plunges through the standing waves and splashing rapids even though she's worried about the quality of Iowa's rivers.

"I think about it all the time, all the unknown stuff that's in the river," Ray J said. But "if I waited for our streams and rivers to be clean, then I'd never get to do anything."

It's a big concern, too, for central Iowa leaders, who want to pump $117 million into building 150 miles of water trails and whitewater runs.

The businesses and groups supporting the Central Iowa Water Trails project expect the network to bring nearly 160,000 people to the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers each year and help attract and retain the young workers who are critical to the Des Moines metro's economic growth.

But the rivers are rife with environmental challenges, primarily the product of runoff from upstream livestock and crop production. Des Moines Water Works and other utilities that tap the rivers for drinking water battle with high nitrogen levels, toxins from harmful algae blooms and bacteria from manure. Sections of the rivers have been on the state's impaired waters list for years.

Water trails organizers say the water quality needed for kayaking, swimming or floating on the rivers is different than the quality required for drinking water. Nitrogen doesn't pose a health risk for recreational swimmers, for example, although the federal government limits the amount in drinking water because at high levels it can be deadly for infants and toddlers.

But high phosphorus levels, another hazard of agricultural runoff, are a concern for both drinking water utilities and river users: The algae blooms they feed can create toxins that sicken people, pets and livestock. 

"When you assess the risk, you have to think about not just what's in the water, but who's in the water and what they're doing," said Rich Leopold, the Polk County Conservation's executive director.

"Is it little kids that are trying to catch frogs, and are going to get a mouthful of water every once in a while? Is it an experienced paddler that hardly even touches the water? Or is it somebody that's going to be jumping in and swimming — fully immersed?" he said.

More: From 'drowning machines' to whitewater attractions: How Iowa's fixing dangerous low-head dams

Bacteria, which can come from a variety of sources, is a primary concern for water trail supporters. Some can sicken people, causing nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. And people with cuts or other open wounds are even more at risk of infection. Add in this ominous finding from new research: Some bacteria in Iowa waterways are antibiotic resistant.

Real-time monitoring of rivers for possible pathogens is a challenge. Testing provides data, but by the time "you get the analysis, that water is gone. It's in Keokuk. So you have to do something different," said Leopold, a member of a committee guiding the water trails initiative.

Chris Jones, a University of Iowa water scientist, is leading a study looking at whether turbidity — a measure of the clarity of rivers, lakes and streams — can signal high bacteria levels, letting users know whether they should stay out of the water.

While water trail supporters work through those issues and others, they believe bringing thousands of people to the rivers will help prompt improvements by turning recreation seekers into advocates who will push lawmakers and others for cleaner water.

"We've been working on this 'cleanup first' mentality for decades," said Hannah Inman, CEO of the Great Outdoors Foundation, the group leading fundraising for Central Iowa Water Trails.

"I truly, adamantly believe to my core that until all Iowans view our rivers as an asset, and something to be celebrated and invested in, we're not going to move that needle," she said.

DNR, university experts say all water use carries risk

Nate Hoogeveen, director of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources river programs, said using Iowa's rivers and lakes carries risk, whether residents are boating, swimming or canoeing. But "everyone has their own threshold" for risk, he said.

Water quality is among those risks. 

"Obviously, you don't want to drink mouthfuls of river water. Not just in Iowa. Anywhere," said Hoogeveen, who kayaks, canoes and swims Iowa's rivers with his family and camps on river sandbars.

But he worries more about his kids, ages 12, 14 and 15, running into "strainers" — trees, logs and other debris in the river that can trap errant paddlers underwater — than he does about water quality. 

"I'm sure the kids swallowed water, especially when they were younger, and the consequences are more like (a) tummy-ache kind of thing, due to, say, some bacteria," he said.

David Cwiertny, director of the University of Iowa's Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination, said people ingesting contaminated river water most likely will experience gastrointestinal illness, which can cause nausea, cramps, vomiting, fever and headaches.

But not everyone who comes into contact with water with bacteria levels above federally recommended levels is going to get sick, Cwiertny said. 

"It just means that there is a greater probability that someone recreating might," he said.

Cwiertny said people with cuts or scrapes are more at risk of getting infections. And those with weakened immune systems will have more difficulty fighting infections.

The UI center, working with the U.S. Geological Survey, also has found "fairly widespread prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria" across Iowa's waters, Cwiertny said.

He said "it shouldn't necessarily be surprising," citing heavy use of antibiotics in agriculture as well as sewers that can overflow in cities during large rainstorms.

More: Agricultural runoff puts Iowa's Raccoon River on list of 10 most endangered nationally, group says

The study, still underway, is still seeking to determine the sources of the resistant bacteria. Cwiertny expects a full report to be released this fall.

Experienced kayakers and canoeists are "going to go in, regardless, because they understand those risks, and they're going to make the decision that's best for them," he said.

Tonya Logan, president of the Des Moines Rowing club, said water quality is not a factor when members assess whether to paddle on the Des Moines River. Instead, they look at flow rate and rely on other safety protocols, like never rowing alone.

When they do encounter what she calls "foam icebergs" — decomposing vegetative or fecal matter — the rowers lean on their experience, making sure not to splash the people in front or behind them, Logan said.

"Does that prevent us from rowing? No. Is our awareness very high about it? Yes," she said. Tonya Logan, president of the Des Moines Rowing club,

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers warned visitors to Saylorville Lake, an impoundment of the Des Moines River about a dozen miles upstream of downtown Des Moines, to avoid swimming over the July 4 weekend due to a blue-green algae bloom that generates toxins called microcystins.

The toxins can cause gastrointestinal illness as well as rashes and potentially more serious medical issues that include liver damage.

What gives Cwiertny pause is introducing new users to the rivers who may not understand the risks.

"I think the issue for the water trails is trying to create an environment that can bring, you know, as many people, including new users and families with young children, to the waterways," he said. "And that's where the water quality issue might be a pretty significant deterrent, if you have a young child you're worried about."

More: Farmer urges Iowa to speed up conservation efforts to improve water quality

Central Iowa Water Trails, other conservation groups working on water quality

Inman, the Great Outdoors Foundation CEO, said her group is partnering with several groups on safety issues tied to using Iowa's rivers and streams, including the quality of the water itself.

Leopold, the Polk County Conservation director, said his group, working with Iowa DNR and other agencies, will likely take a lead in monitoring and reporting water quality in the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers.

But Inman, who also spends her weekends paddling Iowa's rivers with her children, said her group is looking at safety on several fronts. They include alerting users to high-flow conditions, reporting strainers that should be removed and arranging for swimming and water safety classes.

The foundation is beginning to work with farm groups to encourage upstream growers to adopt conservation practices that reduce runoff from their land of nitrogen and phosphorus, the nutrients that lead to harmful algae blooms.

For more immediate impact, the Great Outdoors Foundation is investing $3 million in five downtown Des Moines water trails sites to improve water quality. Streambank stabilization will cut down on erosion, reducing sediment entering the river. New wetlands and rain gardens will filter pollutants.

"Every site has some of these water-quality practices built into them," Inman said, adding the group is incorporating long-term watershed management authority plans and recommendations.

The foundation's work contributed to the group securing federal grants that brought $20 million for use in upstream conservation initiatives, said Sean McMahon, executive director of the Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance.

It continues work in five watersheds that ranges from increased adoption of cover crops that prevent nitrogen and phosphorus losses to building wetlands and bioreactors that filter pollutants. The initiative prevents an estimated 6 million pounds of nitrogen and a quarter-million pounds of phosphorus from going into waterways annually, McMahon said. 

That pace, however, is too slow to make a difference in Iowa's water quality challenges, said Alicia Vasto, associate director of the Iowa Environmental Council's water program. The group points to analyses from Jones, the UI water scientist, that show the total nitrate loads in water flowing from Iowa have doubled, based on a five-year running annual average.

The Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy calls for reducing by 45% the nitrogen and phosphorus levels in water that flows from the state via the Mississippi and Missouri river watersheds, contributing to the dead zone surrounding the mouth of the Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico. It's an area, forecast to reach the size of Connecticut, unable to support aquatic life.

More: Group takes aim at large livestock operations it says pollute Iowa's water

Advocate: People shouldn't be deprived of the river 'just because Iowa can't get its act together'

Raccoon River advocate Mike Delaney says he's seeing more and more people in and on the rivers, particularly last year as the COVID-19 pandemic prompted more people to get outside.

He said he loved seeing hundreds of people last year floating down the Raccoon River from the Puckerbrush Access south of Adel. But he was also worried the water could make them sick.

"There were kids on inner tubes. Kids on rafts. Kids in kayaks. Kids playing in the water. And that made me nervous," said Delaney, a founder of the Raccoon River Watershed Association, a group that advocates for water quality.

Vasto said paddlers and swimmers recreate in Iowa's waterways "even if it's not risk- free 100% of the time."

"A lot of the time it's perfectly fine to get used and recreate," she said. "I don't think that people should be deprived of that just because Iowa can't get its act together and improve our water quality."

More: The Snake River in the Pacific Northwest is the nation's 'most endangered river' of 2021

Inman, the Great Outdoors Foundation CEO, said Iowa, bordering two of the nation's largest rivers, should capitalize on its natural resources. She sees the Central Iowa Water Trails project as having generational impact as a regional destination.

"When I look at what we have in Iowa, we have such an untapped potential that I feel that it would be irresponsible for (Iowans) to not make this a priority to be the recreational capital, to embrace our natural heritage, to embrace what we have and to make it something that we're all proud of," she said. 

Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com or 515-284-8457. 

Kim Norvell covers growth and development for the Register. Reach her at knorvell@dmreg.com or 515-284-8259. Follow her on Twitter @KimNorvellDMR.

Adblock test (Why?)