Washington supervisors concerned by well rules

The Washington County Board of Supervisors approved an intergovernmental (28E) agreement with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources on Tuesday, but voiced some concerns about rules associated with the arrangement.

“We have been contacted by the Department of Natural Resources that they want to start 28E agreements with every county in the state,” County Environmental Health Director Jason Taylor said. “New leadership has taken over at the state level … some changes that they’d like to see us do, one of them is working with less contaminated sites. Any well that’s going to be drilled has to have a well assessment done.”

Taylor said the DNR had new requirements that most new and reconstructed wells in the county fall no less than 1,000 feet from any contamination site, although some — those pumping over 500 gallons per minute — must be as far as 2,500 feet away.

“Unfortunately, if it is a contaminated site within 1,000 feet, they’re going to have to either have a variance or they’re going to have to find a place to drill outside and then pump it to their homes,” he said. “For a variance, we’d work with the DNR.”

While the agreement passed with four votes and one abstention, some board members voiced concerns about related state policies.

While he understood the need to sign the agreement, Supervisor Marcus Fedler said he was concerned the associated fees — including a $25 payment to the DNR with every new well certification — would restrict home development.

“It’s a barrier to entry, is what it is,” he said. “We need more affordable housing in the county. The price of materials is going to go up, understandably. The price to build things is going to go up.

“But the reality is that what’s really affecting development, in my mind, is the fact that government continues to grow, the fees associated with our government continue to grow, and the barrier to entry continues to grow.”

Another concern was the state’s definition of a contaminated site and the duration of that classification.

While he wasn’t certain, Taylor said he thought the DNR had a “once contaminated, always contaminated,” policy, meaning a polluted site would render wells indefinitely undrillable in the given radius.

“On the city maps that I looked at, there were old sites from way back in the '20s that are still on that list,” Taylor said. “I know that they monitor sites, but I truly don’t know how long.”

Fedler and Supervisor Stan Stoops said they worried that policy was too restrictive.

“If that’s a contaminated place and it’s always a contaminated place, then to me that restricts development in the county significantly,” Fedler said. “We keep incrementally decreasing the area of the county that we can develop and to me, that’s ridiculous.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com