Analysis, planning needed to keep water plentiful

With all the well-deserved attention water quality gotten recently, let’s make sure Iowa’s water is not only clean for our children and grandchildren but also plentiful.

The demand for water for ethanol and other industries has brought the issue of water quantity to the forefront. While we are by no means close to a water shortage, it’s important to make plans now if we are to continue supplying the necessary water to our citizens and businesses.

The floods of 1993 left Des Moines without drinking water for almost three weeks. That was a very visible but temporary glimpse of a water crisis. Today, our problem is less visible and more long-term. Even though we can’t see water levels slowly dropping in our underground aquifers, we shouldn’t ignore them.

Unfortunately, financial strains on state funds in recent years have affected the research and monitoring that help us understand long-term impacts on water supplies. Much has changed in that time.

Iowa’s ethanol industry can produce 1.6 billion gallons of ethanol annually. Plants under construction will almost double that, and those in the planning phase will push production to more than 5 billion gallons per year. It takes 4 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of ethanol. So we will soon need 20 billion gallons each year for ethanol production, likely drawn from underground aquifers.

Des Moines Register