DNR confident contaminated water didn’t enter Iowa River, according to email

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – The Iowa Division of Pure Sources is assured contaminated stormwater from an explosion at C6-Zero’s Marengo plant didn’t get into the Iowa River, based on an electronic mail shared with TV9.

In accordance with the DNR, the Iowa River is a major ingesting water supply for Iowa Metropolis and different close by municipalities. The state company stated stormwater with a “darkish and oily in shade and texture” have been going into or in the direction of the Iowa River on Friday.

In an emergency order stopping C6-Zero from working in Iowa, DNR stated stormwater pattern evaluation taken across the facility exhibits proof of the discharge of pollution leading to contamination in extra of statewide water high quality requirements. These chemical substances have been launched after an explosion earlier in December injured 15 inside a plant operated by C6-Zero, which stated it will probably flip asphalt roof shingles into oil, fiberglass, and sand.

In accordance with google maps, the plant and Iowa River are about 1.25 miles away from one another.

Jonathan Durst, who’s a water superintendent for the town of Iowa Metropolis, stated DNR officers consider the contaminated wastewater was saved within the ditches in between the plant and the Iowa River. He stated he acquired pictures from a DNR supervisor Friday afternoon displaying the stormwater caught in a basin.

David Cwiertny, who’s a Civil and Environmental Engineering professor and research water and wastewater remedy on the College of Iowa, stated officers would have a troublesome time detecting pollution within the water if the contaminated runoff made it into the river.

“Chances are you’ll not have the precise strategies to measure it,” he stated. “Chances are you’ll not understand how greatest to take away it, so it’s a must to know what you’re working with so you possibly can, one, work out what’s there and, two, work out if any current remedy may work.”

C6-Zero is continuous to scrub up the plant, which DNR officers required in an emergency order issued on Friday. In accordance with the order, massive areas of contaminated soil are additionally threatening Iowa’s groundwater.

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