Belle Plaine tackles complaints one by one
BELLE PLAINE — Although exceptional drought conditions in southern Benton County were downgraded to extreme drought in December, water worries continue in Belle Plaine.
City Administrator Steve Beck said he’ll work with any residents to solve their individual water issues.
“If people have problems, they need to contact city hall,” said Beck during an interview this month. Complaining on Facebook doesn’t solve anything, he said.
“What put us in distress as a community was the D4 drought designation,” said Beck. The town hit exceptional drought conditions in late summer.
Because of drought conditions, the city hasn’t flushed its fire hydrants, which it used to do twice a year. “We have not felt comfortable with that,” said Beck.
That has led to an increase in water quality complaints.
The problems aren’t citywide, said Beck. Some residents have no problems. Some have intermittent problems, and some have frequent problems. “It depends on the neighborhood and how large the mains are,” he said.
At city hall, the water is sometimes clear and sometimes yellow, Beck said.
When residents call the city about discolored water, Beck tries to solve the problem. “There’s a lot of things they can do themselves,” said Beck. Filtration and water softeners can help.
“This is a long-term problem, and it’s going to take a long-term solution,” said Beck.
Each residence is different, said Beck, so solutions will vary. And there’s a learning curve. “I’ve been doing this stuff my entire life,” Beck said, but most people don’t have much knowledge about water systems.
The town of Belle Plaine is about two miles by two miles in size, but it has dozens of miles of water mains, said Beck.
“I keep track of where people live. I know what size water main is in front of their house,” said Beck. He examines maps of the city’s water mains and its watershed.
The size of the water main, the age of the neighborhood and the terrain — whether the area is flat or hilly — all contribute to water quality, Beck said. Anything that stirs up the water, such a s leak in a main or using water to combat a fire, can change the appearance of the water coming out of someone’s tap.
One woman called and said she felt her water wasn’t safe for drinking, but the water meets standards beyond what is set by the Environmental Protection Agency, Beck said. “All the required testing, we do, above the bare minimum.”
For a couple of months beginning in October, Fareway sent several semi-trailer loads of bottled water to Belle Plaine for people who didn’t want to drink city. Bottles and jugs of water sat at city hall for anyone who wanted to pick it up.
DNR and EPA
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which works under the EPA to assure water quality, has visited Belle Plaine during its water crisis and found it in compliance, Beck said. “I have a very good relationship with the DNR.”
Belle Plaine is meeting all the regulations set by the EPA, said Corey McCoid, supervisor for the DNR’s water supply operations.
There are things the community can do, said McCoid. “They haven’t flushed the system. They haven’t run a high volume of water through the pipes.” But McCoid understands why.
“They’re dealing with a drought issue,” McCoid said. “They’re in a touch situation right now. The drought complicates things.”
The standard tests the DNR runs are for the elements listed in the Safe Drinking Water Act, said McCoid. “If they had a violation, we would know about it, and we would require action on it.”
The Iowa DNR drinking water data portal (programs.iowadnr.gov) shows that Belle Plaine hasn’t had a violation since E. coli was found in the water in 2021.
Belle Plaine dug its deep well in 1988 to deal with its last drought. Water from the deep well is mixed with water from the shallow wells and sent to Belle Plaine homes.
Manganese
Water from the deep well is not treated and likely contains manganese, said McCoid.
But manganese is not tested in primary standards. It’s part of the secondary standards, which the DNR website says are non-mandatory water quality standards for various contaminants.
The EPA does not enforce these contaminant levels. They are guidelines assist public water systems for aesthetic considerations such as taste, color and odor, the EPA says.
“These contaminants are not considered to present a risk to human health” at the given levels, the EPA says. The secondary contaminants may cause the water to appear cloudy or colored or to taste or smell bad, causing people to stop using the water even though it is safe to drink, the EPA said.
“We kind of treat it similar to lead, I guess,” said McCoid. “We get a lot of iron complaints as well,” but the water isn’t unsafe to drink.
McCoid said the EPA has issued a health advisory for manganese — not for Belle Plaine specifically, but nationwide. “That’s what the EPA does before they set a standard,” McCoid said.
Adding manganese that to primary standard testing is years away, said McCoid. “We can’t enforce a standard that doesn’t exist,” he said.
The maximum contaminant level set for manganese is 0.05 mg/liter. Manganese will make water black or brown and can cause black staining and a bitter metallic taste, according to the EPA.
Rebuilding wetlands
Belle Plaine has a DNR grant for $250,000 to start rebuilding wetlands northwest of the city. Beck expects a preliminary engineering report to be ready in March and submitted to the DNR in April.
The city will submit an application for another $250,000 grant, from the Iowa Department of Ag and Land Stward’s water quality initiative before its February deadline.
A source water protection plan for a water treatment facility for the deep well is in the engineering stage, said Beck, but he prefers natural filtration, which is why he’s trying to reestablish wetlands at the intersection of E66 and Highway 21, a field that used to be underwater.
“This is God’s water filter,” said Beck. It was used for 100 years in Belle Plaine, but people have relied on shallow wells for thousands of years, he said. They are safer than ponds.
The water flows through plants which slow it down and take nutrients from it. The water filters through soil, sand and rock to the underground storage, the aquifer.
“It couldn’t be simpler,” said Beck.
The system failed when a farmer interrupted the natural flow years ago. The drought added to the problems, Beck said. The well field is about 12 feet lower than normal right now, he said.
In the past, “it’s always rained and bailed us out.” That hasn’t happened recently, so Belle Plaine is going to build a water treatment system for the deep well, “so we have more security.”
Beck says his ideas aren’t groundbreaking. They are old school. “Nature will filter the water for you, but you have to protect the ground around it,” Beck said.
Building the wetlands will take time, said Beck. The city has to place wells and roads before it builds the wetlands because laws prohibit disturbing them once they are in place. Once established, the wetlands can provide hundreds of millions of gallons of water in storage, said Beck. “That’s how important wetlands are.”
The City will be submitting required applications this year for the treatment plant for Well 6. The DNR environmental review will take 6-9 months, according to Beck, and should be finished by June 2025.
Beck expects to submit construction permits to the DNR in August 2025, receive permits in November 2025 and start construction in March 2026. The treatment plant could be finished by November 2026.
877-292-2126
Service Areas
