2024 305(b) Assessment Summary
2024 Integrated Report including the 2024 Impaired Waters List:Partial Approval/Partial Disapproval by U.S. EPA Region VII on November 12, 2024:
Iowa DNR (DNR) submitted the 2024 Integrated Report which includes the 2024 Impaired Waters List to the U.S. EPA Region VII as required by Sections 305(b), 303(d), and 314 of the federal Clean Water Act for approval on May 9, 2024. The DNR received a partially approving / partially disapproving decision document for Iowa’s 2024 Clean Water Act Section 303(d) list from the U.S. EPA Region VII on November 12, 2024. Listed below are the seven impairments EPA Region VII added to Iowa’s 303(d) list after seeking public comment from November 13, 2024 to December 13, 2024. EPA Region VII provided the "2024 Response to Comments for EPA’s Partial Approval / Partial Disapproval of Iowa’s Clean Water Act Section 303(d) List of Water Quality Limited Segments Still Requiring TMDLs" document to the DNR on December 30, 2024.
Table 1. Page 2. From the November 12, 2024 EPA Region VII decision document.
Public comments were sought on Iowa’s draft 2024 Integrated Report, including the list of impaired waters, from March 14, 2024 through April 12, 2024. The DNR prepared a summary of responses to the seven comments received on the draft 2024 Integrated Report. The draft 2024 Integrated Report was updated following the public comment period and Iowa's final 2024 Impaired Waters list, as submitted to the U.S. EPA Region VII, contained 577 water bodies with a total of 746 impairments.
Materials for review
- 2024 Iowa Integrated Report EPA Submittal Letter
- Methodology for Iowa’s 2024 Water Quality Assessment, Listing, and Reporting Pursuant to Sections 305(b) and 303(d) of the Federal Clean Water Act.
- Public Participation Responsiveness Summary for Iowa's 2024 Section 303 (d) list of Impaired Waters
- Iowa’s 2024 305(b) Supplemental Information Report
- Iowa's TMDL Vision 2024
- EPA Decision Document: Partial Approval/Partial Disapproval of Iowa’s 2024 Section 303(d) List
- EPA response to Public Comments
- EPA Transmittal Letter (12/30/2024)
Iowa's Section 303(d) lists and Integrated Reports are prepared according to Iowa DNR's assessment and listing methodology and follow U.S. EPA guidelines for "integrated reporting" that combine requirements of Sections 305(b), 303(d), and 314 of the federal Clean Water Act. These U.S. EPA guidelines suggest that states place all their waters into one of the following categories that comprise a state's Integrated Report:
- Supporting: These waterbodies are assessed as fully supporting their assessed designated uses*. Waters assessed as supporting all their designated uses are in Category 1 of the Integrated Report. Those waters where some of the designated uses are met but insufficient information exists to determine whether the remaining uses are met are placed in Category 2 of the Integrated Report.
- Uses Not Assessed: These are designated uses for which insufficient information exists to determine whether that designated use is met. Other designated uses for that waterbody, however, may have been assessed as either "supporting" or "impaired".
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Waterbodies Not Assessed: Insufficient information exists to determine whether any beneficial uses designated for that waterbody are met. These waterbodies are placed into Category 3 of the Integrated Report.
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Category 4: The waterbody is impaired but a TMDL is not required; the waterbody is not included on the state's section 303(d) list of impaired waters (Category 5 of the Integrated Report).
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Category 5: The states Section 303(d) list of impaired waters. The waterbody is impaired and a total maximum daily load (TMDL) is needed.
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WINOFI: As provided for in Iowa's credible data law, the Department is to maintain a separate list of waters that require further investigative monitoring. As specified in the credible data law, this list is not part of the Section 303(d)/impaired waters process in Iowa and includes waterbodies where limited information suggests, but does not conclusively (credibly) demonstrate, a water quality impairment. If the results of further investigative monitoring demonstrate, with data of sufficient quality and quantity, that a water quality impairment exists, the affected waterbody can be added to Iowa's Section 303(d) list.
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Delistings: These waters are proposed for removal from Iowa's previous (2022) list of impaired waters. A rationale for each proposed delisting is provided.
[*Designated uses are beneficial uses applied to specific Iowa surface waters (streams, rivers, lakes, and wetlands) in the Iowa Water Quality Standards. Examples of beneficial uses are uses for primary contact recreation (for example, swimming-type uses), aquatic life protection, and as a source of water for a public water supply. Beneficial uses designated for Iowa's surface waters are protected by narrative and numeric water quality criteria. For a more detailed description of designated uses applied to Iowa surface waters, see pages 9 and 10 [Surface Water Quality Criteria, Designated Use Segments] of the Iowa Water Quality Standards. For a list of the Iowa surface waters and their respective designated uses, see Iowa's Surface Water Classification.]
Assessment Results
Healthy waters are those segments in Integrated Report Categories 1 and 2.
- Category 1: All designated uses are met
- Category 2: One or more designated uses are met, but there are insufficient data to determine if the remaining designated uses are met.
As provided for in Iowa's Credible Data Law, the Department is to maintain a separate list of waters that require further investigative monitoring. This list is not part of the Section 303(d)/impaired waters process in Iowa and includes segments where limited information suggests, but does not conclusively (credibly) demonstrate, a water quality impairment. If the results of further investigative monitoring demonstrate, with data of sufficient quality and quantity, that a water quality impairment exists, the affected segment can be added to Iowa's Section 303(d) list.
Impaired waters are those segments in Integrated Report Categories 4 and 5.
- Category 4: The segment is impaired but a TMDL is not required; the segment is not included on the state's section 303(d) list of impaired waters (Category 5 of the Integrated Report).
- Category 5: Iowa's Section 303(d) List of Impaired Waters. The segment is impaired and a total maximum daily load (TMDL) is needed.
The number of assessments the Iowa DNR can make in a given cycle are limited by budgets and staffing resources.
- Category 3: Insufficient data to determine whether any designated uses are met.
Summary Statistics
Category 5 Impaired Waters List
Overall Integrated Report Categories
| Category - Description | Waterbody Segments |
|---|---|
| 1 - All designated uses are met. | 24 |
| 2 - Some of the designated uses are met but there is insufficient data to determine if remaining designated uses are met. | 362 |
3 - Insufficient data exist to determine whether any designated uses are met.
EPA Category 3 and WINOFIsIowa maintains a separate list, per the Credible Data Law, of segments with insufficient information (WINOFI). Because these segments do not have enough information to determine use support, EPA considers these "Not Assessed". Therefore, for the purpose of reporting the Integrated Report to EPA, these WINOFI segments are grouped into the EPA's Category 3. For this cycle, there are a total of 320 WINOFI segments and 1325 "Not Assessed" segments. |
1645 |
| 4 - Water is impaired or threatened and a TMDL has been completed or is not needed. | 145 |
| 5 - Water is impaired or threatened and a TMDL is needed. | 577 |