For The First Time, Iowans May Be Put On A Lawn-Watering Ban This Summer

Problems, summer edition.

You don't have permission to judge your neighbor's lawn if it looks brown and gross this summer.

Des Moines Register reports that in central Iowa, Central Iowa Water Works asked people in the Des Moines-area to cut back on lawn watering by 50%. And why?

It's chemistry.

High nitrate levels from the Raccoon River (the highest nitrate level recorded since 2013) measured at just over 200 milligrams, which is twice the federal limit for safe drinking water.

Central Iowa Water Works' executive director, Tami Madsen, told the Register that Des Moines Water Works (the largest supplier in the CIWW network) has been running it's nitrate removal system for over 50 days. She says that the Raccoon River has nitrate levels that are so high, the water is unusable. They're already tapping into low-nitrate sources like an aquifer and storage wells.

And as for a lawn-watering ban? Des Moines Water Works' general manager Ted Corrigan said:

I wouldn’t be surprised if within a week we have to tell residents they can’t water their grass, which we’ve never done before.

If you're thinking 'nah, I'd still water my yard', remember nitrates come through things like manure and fertilizer in heavy agriculture states like Iowa. Madsen said potentially heavy fertilizer use on upstream farms could be the culprit. So you don't want to be spray poo-water all over your lawn, anyway.

Officials may institute that ban if the nitrate levels don't decrease soon. If we have a lack of rain in the coming weeks too, that could make it a dry-lawn summer for a lot of us.