Ottumwa coal ash polluting groundwater: environmentalists seek a permanent solution
Alliant Energy’s Iowa affiliate, Interstate Power and Light (IPL), has agreed to stop discharges of polluted groundwater under an Ottumwa coal ash landfill. The move followed a 60-day notice of intent to sue under the Clean Water Act, issued by the Iowa Environmental Council, Sierra Club, and Environmental Law & Policy Center, over unauthorized discharges. The coal ash at the landfill comes from the Ottumwa Generating Station co-owned by IPL and MidAmerican Energy.
The notice of intent to sue alleged that Alliant’s Iowa affiliate discharged polluted groundwater from the site for decades. The polluted groundwater was being discharged to a wetland that flows to a creek, then into the Des Moines River. Iowa Department of Natural Resources informed IPL in 2023 that the discharge did not qualify under the company’s stormwater permit. The utility’s own monitoring shows the water contains arsenic, cobalt, manganese, molybdenum at levels above groundwater or drinking water standards, as well as other heavy metals.
Alliant informed the environmental groups that it would temporarily truck polluted water to the City of Ottumwa Water Pollution Control Facility or for evaporation at the coal plant. Trucking polluted water to the city facility is both expensive and ineffective. City water treatment plants are not equipped to properly handle coal ash. The treatment technology (biological or chemical settling) is ineffective at removing certain toxics and heavy metals, such as mercury, from wastewater.
The change in disposal practices by IPL occurred days before expiration of the 60-day period in the notice of intent to sue from the environmental groups. The Iowa Environmental Council, Sierra Club, and Environmental Law & Policy Center believe that IPL should implement a permanent solution that treats the pollution from the coal ash landfill and stops harming public health and the environment.
See press release about the notice and temporary solution