Our nitrates are high, they are not 40-80 ppm high though.This doesn’t seem great…EPA safe drinking levels are 5 ppm. This testing looks like 40-80.
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Ankeny water ban
- Thread starter ISUcyclones11
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The MCL standard for nitrate-nitrogen is 10 ppm, water treatment plants are using certified lab tested samples for their measurements not hobby aquarium kits, and it's not the same thing as fecal matter in the water. There are a lot of problems with nitrates in our drinking water but it doesn't excuse completely false alarmist posts like this one. The levels are nowhere close to 40 or 80 ppm in our drinking water.This doesn’t seem great…EPA safe drinking levels are 5 ppm. This testing looks like 40-80.
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We have come out of this wet week reasonably well. Conditions in both the Raccoon and Des Moines River are much better than a week ago and have been trending in the right direction since the ban was enacted.
It’s obviously very saturated out there and next weeks forecast could move a lot more nitrogen. My gut says we won’t reach concentrations as high as last week again this year, but the potential is definitely there.
If we weren’t already in a ban, I wonder if we’d be in one right now with the current source levels. I understand not lifting it until we make it out of next weeks forecast though. Also, no established lawn needed supplemental irrigation this week and will be fine until the rains hit next week.
It’s obviously very saturated out there and next weeks forecast could move a lot more nitrogen. My gut says we won’t reach concentrations as high as last week again this year, but the potential is definitely there.
If we weren’t already in a ban, I wonder if we’d be in one right now with the current source levels. I understand not lifting it until we make it out of next weeks forecast though. Also, no established lawn needed supplemental irrigation this week and will be fine until the rains hit next week.
True, NO3 ppm greater than 25 ppm aren't that common even at the field tile exit to a stream. Also, don't expect this to just go away within a month. SE MN differs very little from the Raccoon and Des Moines watersheds. Here's some water nerd insights.
Six observations from six years of tile sampling for nitrates in southeast Minnesota
By: Greg Klinger, assistant Extension educator, agricultural climate resilience Since 2016, I’ve taken water samples from the outlets of til...
That question has been on my mind. They've lured a lot of water usage here, but have they built the necessary infrastructure to support that?
S/o to all the fear mongers online, an older lady at my office came into work scared that the DSM drinking water was going to be deemed no longer safe because of what she read on Facebook.
The water is perfectly fine and anyone trying to tell you otherwise needs to seek help.
The water is perfectly fine and anyone trying to tell you otherwise needs to seek help.
Most of this right now is because of high nitrates in rivers, lakes and reservoirs, that the cities are sourcing their water from, but another huge issue is starting to pop up and is going to ruin a lot more peoples water.
With Iowa's Karst topography, more and more of the pollutants are making or going to make their way into the ground water and aquafers. This is a huge issue and if we don't do something very soon everyone's water is going to be unfit.
Most counties now recommend water testing every year, because wells are starting to show up polluted. This is a major concern considering we are talking both private and public water sources all over the state.
Its time to realize just because hog **** is less concentrated it is still not healthy, because all that happens is because it is less concentrated way more is applied in order to reach the same concentration levels as chemicals. And last I checked no one is drinking glasses of hog ****, because its "organic". The amount of hog **** spread across Iowa is insane. Hogs produce way more waste than humans. I realize there is a study that compares waste water from humans and says that humans produce more, but that is just ingenuous because it includes gray water etc, like showers, hand washing, dish washing and other non waste black water. Hogs produce way more waste per hog and we have more than 10 times the amount of hogs in Iowa. I actually had the numbers somewhere, but cant find it right now. If I remember right its like 11 times the amount of crap from one hog than one human per day.
Think of this, what would the state be like if we had 10 times the people, a couple hundred million, think of the waste in the state, now think of if we just dumped that waste on the ground with no treatment, like we do hog ****. That is the equivalent of 30-50 million hogs amount of waste in the state we have.
Its insane, I get it we all love our bacon, but there has to be a limit. We cant produce the entire worlds amount of pork in just Iowa. Enough is enough. Let China produce and pollute their country, we dont need to provide them with all their pork and pollute ours.
Yes, I know there are some hog farmers and other farmers that spread this **** on the land like its frosting, here that are going to be pissed about this, but it is the truth, sorry.
With Iowa's Karst topography, more and more of the pollutants are making or going to make their way into the ground water and aquafers. This is a huge issue and if we don't do something very soon everyone's water is going to be unfit.
Most counties now recommend water testing every year, because wells are starting to show up polluted. This is a major concern considering we are talking both private and public water sources all over the state.
Its time to realize just because hog **** is less concentrated it is still not healthy, because all that happens is because it is less concentrated way more is applied in order to reach the same concentration levels as chemicals. And last I checked no one is drinking glasses of hog ****, because its "organic". The amount of hog **** spread across Iowa is insane. Hogs produce way more waste than humans. I realize there is a study that compares waste water from humans and says that humans produce more, but that is just ingenuous because it includes gray water etc, like showers, hand washing, dish washing and other non waste black water. Hogs produce way more waste per hog and we have more than 10 times the amount of hogs in Iowa. I actually had the numbers somewhere, but cant find it right now. If I remember right its like 11 times the amount of crap from one hog than one human per day.
Think of this, what would the state be like if we had 10 times the people, a couple hundred million, think of the waste in the state, now think of if we just dumped that waste on the ground with no treatment, like we do hog ****. That is the equivalent of 30-50 million hogs amount of waste in the state we have.
Its insane, I get it we all love our bacon, but there has to be a limit. We cant produce the entire worlds amount of pork in just Iowa. Enough is enough. Let China produce and pollute their country, we dont need to provide them with all their pork and pollute ours.
Yes, I know there are some hog farmers and other farmers that spread this **** on the land like its frosting, here that are going to be pissed about this, but it is the truth, sorry.
6% of daily capacity is 6% of daily capacity.
The problem is, when they were running at 108% demand vs capacity last week, even magically wiping data centers completely out of existence and zeroed out their water usage, you would have still had demand over 100% of what they could produce below the EPA limit.
You are dead on about hog manure (and some dairy). There is a very simple solution - make farmers treat it. Or build way more digesters and make energy from it and do some nutrient treatment on the back end.
We make every other point source treat waste. Imagine if we let industries not-treat their waste and land apply or dump into a river. But…farmers…so we basically let them off the hook because “wah, wah, wah farming is hard and I don’t make money”.
Pretty sure DDG has a strong partnership with Microsoft. Just because it's hosted in AWS doesn't mean its not hitting other companies data centers.
And what % is each individual homeowner, commercial property, or splash pad that was forced to shut off?
You're making an apples and oranges comparison when there are far more of those than there are data centers. The data centers are using a disproportionate amount of water, and in a time when others are forced to scale back, it's not great for them to still be using whatever they want.
How often do people usually water their lawns in Iowa? When I lived in Texas I watered 3 days a week. I would think once a week would be enough in Central Iowa. I have no idea. I live in the country and never water my lawn.
Stuff like that happens all over the country.
I think last year in July I was going 3 days a week with a few random runs scattered in to hit certain spots. I have half an acre and it typically runs for 3 hours.
I think we're having two different valid discussions. One about long-term issues, and one about avoiding an immediate situation.
When I lived in the city - never
Now in the country - also never
Watering a lawn is a waste of resources. It will go dormant and then spring back when conditions improve. Magic!
Agreed. Tell that to the manager of every office park, motel property, dining establishment, shopping center, warehouse zone and outward facing business in the metro.
I don't water my lawn and could care less if it burns out. I need to mow this weekend and my lawn is dark green and overgrown right now without any watering, Found this interesting as I am in Grimes and some here freaked out about the water ban:
www.grimesiowa.gov
Lawn Watering Update
The City of Grimes is a member of the CIWW and has supported the lawn watering ban. However, our water comes from local wells and is not connected to date to the regional system. Grimes does not have a nitrate problem.
I have a question.
These data centers that use so much water, it really doesnt have to be so highly filtered does it? So why dont they have a basic filter system, for the minimal things they need filtered like sediment etc. and only filter for human consumption, filtering harmful substances for what is needed. These should not be using the cities public water system for their cooling purposes.
I realize this would mean an entire separate system and piping for those facilities, but maybe those facilities need to be built near water sources, building their own filtration systems, that is sufficient for their needs, then only piping in drinking water from the city, for actual drinking and bathrooms etc.
It seams like utilizing the cities water supply for cooling purposes is a stupid idea, Most other industries use their own water source, which is why they are built on rivers etc, and utilize cooling towers, cooling ponds etc. I know of a factory that draws water from a river for cooling, then it is discharged into a pond which is used to cool the water before it is returned to the river. This seams to me how all of these data centers should be done.
This does not address the issue of the pollution in our water supply but would address the over use over consumption of the city water.
These data centers that use so much water, it really doesnt have to be so highly filtered does it? So why dont they have a basic filter system, for the minimal things they need filtered like sediment etc. and only filter for human consumption, filtering harmful substances for what is needed. These should not be using the cities public water system for their cooling purposes.
I realize this would mean an entire separate system and piping for those facilities, but maybe those facilities need to be built near water sources, building their own filtration systems, that is sufficient for their needs, then only piping in drinking water from the city, for actual drinking and bathrooms etc.
It seams like utilizing the cities water supply for cooling purposes is a stupid idea, Most other industries use their own water source, which is why they are built on rivers etc, and utilize cooling towers, cooling ponds etc. I know of a factory that draws water from a river for cooling, then it is discharged into a pond which is used to cool the water before it is returned to the river. This seams to me how all of these data centers should be done.
This does not address the issue of the pollution in our water supply but would address the over use over consumption of the city water.
