Six years into a national severe violator program – arguably the broadest workplace safety initiative launched during the Obama administration – more than 500 businesses are on a list of bad actors, this Fairwarning.org report reveals.
IowaWatch Executive Director-Editor Lyle Muller was a guest on a recent Ethical Perspectives on the News program KCRG-TV-9 along with Tim Hagle, professor of political science at the University of Iowa; and Jesse Case of Teamsters Local 238. The host and moderator was Karl Cassell.
Russ Tell, senior environmental specialist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, points to two main goals when plugging up old wells: protecting the aquifer and safety.
Many Iowans may not know what is in their water because their wells’ water quality is unregulated. Moreover, many well owners IowaWatch spoke with during an investigation this past year in counties across southwest Iowa said they largely were unconcerned about their wells, even though tests revealed
The most recent statewide study of Iowa’s private wells, the Iowa Statewide Rural Well Water Survey Phase 2, found that nearly half of wells had detectible levels of nitrogen, bacteria or arsenic.
Testing on private wells through the Iowa’s Grants to Counties program is recorded in a Private Well Tracking System database maintained by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The database, in use since 2003, also includes information about things like well depth, age, location and constructio
IowaWatch, run by the non-profit, non-partisan Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism, is one of 57 news organizations the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has selected for a one-month-long matching fund drive.
Many Iowans may not know what is in their water because their wells’ water quality is unregulated. Moreover, many well owners IowaWatch spoke with during an investigation this past year in counties across southwest Iowa said they largely were unconcerned about their wells, even though tests revealed
