Ankeny water ban

[FDWxMan]

If anyone is interested in monitoring on their own.... Des Moines Water Works has an advanced water quality data page that you can search out the different source water contaminant levels as well as their finished product levels.

DMWW Water Quality Data

Fleur Drive Drive treatment plant is what pumps out the most water (3x as much as McMullen and 7x as much as Saylorville). The data seems to be posted about 48 hours after the date, so we don't know yesterday or today's level. I'm curious to what the levels were yesterday that sparked the upgrade conservation warning as the finished product N levels on Wednesday were high (8.64 mg/L) but not the highest this year or even last year.

I do think it is strange how much higher the DMWW testing shows the Raccoon River (near Water Works) then what the USGS gauge at Van Meter is showing. For example the Raccoon at Water Works tested at 18.95 on Wednesday but the gauge at Van Meter was just over 16 mg/L. The only major tributary after the Van Meter gauge is Walnut Creek which is mainly the NW metro now. Even if it was 100% row crops I wouldn't expect it to have the load to increase the concentration by about 2.5 mg/L with the size of the Raccoon there without a major isolated storm event. For clarification, I'm not a lawn/golf course fertilizer is the problem person. There is almost zero nitrogen leaching away instead of being used by the turf right now, so I'm really surprised by that increase.

Maybe USGS needs to recalibrate. You can use the Iowa Water Quality Information System (on its now shoestring budget) to quickly jump around the real time sensors if you want to take a look.

The good news is we are tailing down slowly. The bad news is next week could bring more loading.

The issue with the Raccoon gauge is because of how the water mixes from the north and south Raccoon that occurs just upstream. Not fully mixed yet, so it consistently reads low vs Fleur test.

 

[Cyientist]

The issue with the Raccoon gauge is because of how the water mixes from the north and south Raccoon that occurs just upstream. Not fully mixed yet, so it consistently reads low vs Fleur test.

I suppose. It’s a little crazy that it doesn’t drop that much from the Jefferson gauge to Fleur.

I’m surprised USGS hasn’t moved it if it’s that inaccurate.

 

[NorthCyd]

I suppose. It’s a little crazy that it doesn’t drop that much from the Jefferson gauge to Fleur.

I’m surprised USGS hasn’t moved it if it’s that inaccurate.

It's a stream gauging station and I doubt it was cited with nitrate sampling in mind. Something that was installed after the fact as a matter of convenience.

 

[Cyientist]

It's a stream gauging station and I doubt it was cited with nitrate sampling in mind. Something that was installed after the fact as a matter of convenience.

I don’t know, USGS is very particular in their protocol. They don’t kick out data that is that misrepresentative. The real time sensor after the North and South combine is pretty important.

 

[NorthCyd]

I don’t know, USGS is very particular in their protocol. They don’t kick out data that is that misrepresentative. The real time sensor after the North and South combine is pretty important.

Aren't you accusing them of distributing data that is misrepresentative? You think they need to recalibrate or move the instrument.

 

[ianoconnor]

The worst part is not being able to fill the inflatable pool to drink beer in

I mean technically it's only a lawn watering ban, not a swimming ban...

 

[Cyientist]

Aren't you accusing them of distributing data that is misrepresentative? You think they need to recalibrate or move the instrument.

All their data is labeled preliminary, and they go out and sample to verify. Most of the time it isn’t this big of a difference. They wouldn’t put out data that is regularly 3 ppm different for 15+ years on a public site before being corrected. That is pretty much worthless information especially going into the largest drinking water supply in Iowa.

Sometimes the instrument needs recalibrated.

 

[NorthCyd]

All their data is labeled preliminary, and they go out and sample to verify. Most of the time it isn’t this big of a difference. They wouldn’t put out data that is regularly 3 ppm different for 15+ years on a public site before being corrected. That is pretty much worthless information especially going into the largest drinking water supply in Iowa.

Sometimes the instrument needs recalibrated.

I don't have a lot of history with these two specific locations, but I work with water quality data all the time and I guess I don't consider a 17 percent difference between two sampling locations that are (guessing) over 10 miles apart using different sampling methods to be that big of a difference.

 

[Bob f]

I had to repair a bunch of grass in my yard this spring. I spent alot of money reseeding it and the parts that aren't established enough will die if we don't get some rain.

Yeah, I understand it's first world problems, but it's really irritating they have to let it come to this before actually trying to get to the root of the issue.

Isn't from Sac County like before?

 

[Bob f]

Everyone likes clean water

Because people are weird and think that "having a nice lawn" is some sort of status thing.

Plus if the water in iowa is full of chemicals...

 

[Gunnerclone]

Des Moines Water Works has set up a dedicated phone line to report violations: 515-323-6247.

Don’t ******* snitch.

 

[Turn2]

If we wanna be serious about this let's shut off the data centers.

https://www.axios.com/local/des-moines/2023/09/18/ai-iowa-epicenter-microsoft-water-useage-data-center

 

[JEFF420]

If we wanna be serious about this let's shut off the data centers.

https://www.axios.com/local/des-moines/2023/09/18/ai-iowa-epicenter-microsoft-water-useage-data-center

View attachment 151067

but how could we give them massive tax breaks if we dont also give them all our drinking water?!

 

[Urbandale2013]

If we wanna be serious about this let's shut off the data centers.

https://www.axios.com/local/des-moines/2023/09/18/ai-iowa-epicenter-microsoft-water-useage-data-center

View attachment 151067

Serious question but why can’t they use some sort of recycled water?

 

[NWICY]

Serious question but why can’t they use some sort of recycled water?

In a similar vein does their water need to be denitrated?

 

[intrepid27]

Right? My lawn loves the extra nitrates in the water. It’s got electrolytes. Why wouldn’t I keep dumping this on my lawn.

When it rains my lawn sighs and pouts and says, “What is this ****** sky water? Diet water?”

And......since EPA restrictions on coal plants were recently eliminated we will start getting free sulfur through acid rain again. At least the plants will benefit.

 

[madguy30]

And......since EPA restrictions on coal plants were recently eliminated we will start getting free sulfur through acid rain again. At least the plants will benefit.

I'm waiting for someone (or two) to pop in and say sulfur wasn't a problem or toxic when they were growing up.

 

[Turn2]

In a similar vein does their water need to be denitrated?

DMWW only serves one flavor. But, no, it doesn't.

 

[NoCreativity]

Looks like they've closed all the splash pools and spray grounds in Des Moines. I wonder what political reason was given for this becuase they all use closed internal systems that were filled a month ago and dont need much fresh water added to operate.