NPDES PERMIT UPDATE

The Iowa Great Lakes Sanitary District permit is currently open for public comments on the Iowa DNR Website as Iowa Great Lakes Sanitary District Draft Permit. This permit sets limits for the water treatment before it is discharged into Milford Creek.  The Sanitary District has been treating waste water for the area since it was established in 1938.  The treated waste water  has discharged in to Milford Creek since it first went into operation.  Prior to the creation of the Sanitary District, treatment plants were located in Arnolds Park and Spirit Lake.  The two city waste water treatment  facilities discharged into near by lakes.  All other waste water in the area went to septic tank, cesspools and earthen toilets that contaminated local wells and impacted the water quality of the Iowa Great Lakes.

The NPDES or National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permits are updated every five years.  Due to some water quality standard improvement the Iowa DNR was working on, many NPDES permits were not allowed to continue without updating.  Now that those water quality standards have been established, the Iowa DNR is renewing the existing NPDES permits.  The last permit that was issued to the Iowa Great Lakes Sanitary District was in 2005.  The Sanitary District continues to treat water beyond the limits established in the 2005 permit.

The draft permit is currently open for the public comments.  If you have any questions about the permit please contact the Iowa Great Lakes Sanitary District office (712) 338-2626, the Iowa DNR Field Office in Spencer (712) 262-4177 or the Waste Water Permitting office in Des Moines (515) 725-0313.