Bill would dismantle Des Moines Water Works

A bill introduced in the Iowa Legislature would dismantle Des Moines Water Works and replace it with a regional water authority under the control of local municipalities.

House File 316 would scrap the five-member board of directors appointed by the Des Moines mayor and replace it with a regional board appointed by Des Moines and its suburban neighbors. The newly created water authority would shift control of the utility’s $250 million in assets to local municipalities.

The bill's sponsor, state Rep. Jarad Klein, R-Keota, said the utility's suburban customers do not receive adequate representation.

Approximately 60 percent of the water flowing through Des Moines Water Works' facilities serves customers in suburban communities, according to a report from the Iowa Partnership for Clean Water. And right now, none of those communities has any say in who is appointed to the utility's board of directors.

Bill Stowe, executive director of Des Moines Water Works, called the bill an attempt by state government to intrude on local government. He likened the move to what happened in Flint, Mich., almost three years ago. Flint's drinking water became contaminated with lead while the city was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager.

“This is clearly retribution for our lawsuit,” Stowe said. “Our message (that) Iowa needs to protect the public health of its residents by protecting its water isn’t going to get lost by trying to scramble our board or pull it into the city of Des Moines.”

Des Moines Water Works' federal lawsuit claims underground tiles in three northwest Iowa counties channel high levels of nitrates into the Raccoon River. The utility says it spent about $1.3 million last year to remove nitrates and make the water safe for consumption. The federal government says excessive levels of nitrates can be harmful or fatal to young children and has set limits on how much is acceptable in drinking water.

The lawsuit has prompted statewide conversations about how to address Iowa's water problems, but it has also exposed a divide between urban and rural residents on how to pay for changes.

A similar bill to expand representation on the Des Moines Water Works board was introduced last legislative session, but it failed to move forward.

Des Moines, which opposed that bill, is supporting this latest effort to reorganize the utility.

Jen Schulte, one of four lobbyists working for the city, said Des Moines opposed last year's bill because it did not give the city adequate representation on the regional utility's proposed 17-member board of directors.

Last year they were forced to the table, Schulte said. Under the current bill, which factors in population and the value of a city’s water facilities, Des Moines can expect greater representation.

Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie said the city was not consulted during the drafting of the bill, which he called the "lesser of two evils."

"I want to make sure the investments we have and interests of the region are protected and we don’t become a huge politically driven body that is more interested in the politics than in delivery of a necessity of life," Cownie said.

However, Des Moines Councilwoman Christine Hensley, who also serves on the Iowa Partnership for Clean Water board, a statewide group backed by the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, supports a regional approach to water service.

"Because of the growth of suburban communities, we need to revisit the governance model and we need to rethink it," Hensley said.

Des Moines Water Works was established as a public utility in 1919 to provide drinking water to Des Moines residents. It has since grown to approximately 500,000 customers in central Iowa. It operates three water treatment facilities — the flagship plant on Fleur Drive in Des Moines and facilities at Maffitt Reservoir in Cumming and Saylorville Lake in northern Polk County — and maintains more than 1,360 miles of buried water mains.

It owns and operates Water Works Park, which covers approximately 1,500 acres near downtown Des Moines, and the 1,300-acre Maffitt Reservoir lake and woodlands near Cumming.

The proposed legislation would wrestle control of those parks and treatment facilities from the independent utility and turn them over to the municipalities' control.

The legislation could also put the brakes on suburban cities' efforts to move forward with their own water treatment plans.

West Des Moines, Waukee and Urbandale are also studying whether to build new water treatment facilities to alleviate their dependence on Des Moines Water Works. If approved, HF 316 would delay those projects until at least July 1, 2018.