Iowa DNR offers program to remove forever chemicals from small town water systems

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - From increasing your risk of certain cancers to reducing fertility, PFAs can pose a serious health risk to anyone who ingests them.

The only problem? They can be found in a variety of sources, including non-stick cookware, stain-resistant fabric, and even drinking water.

Which is why the Iowa DNR is giving roughly 800 towns a hand in monitoring for them.

“The samples cost at a minimum of 370 dollars per sample. So, the DNR is going to pay for those samples and the shipping costs.” said Kathy Lee, an Environmental Specialist Senior with the Iowa DNR.

Because PFAs can be hidden in plain sight, the Environmental Protection Agency ruled in June all public water systems must monitor for them within three years.

But this isn’t as easy as it sounds.

“That sounds like we’ve got a lot of time to collect those samples, but the analysis is one, expensive, two, complex, and three, subject to cross-contamination.” explained Lee.

Cities originally had until the 18th to sign up for help.

But as of mid-October, over 40% of eligible towns or facilities had not.

KCRG reached out to over 10 of those communities to learn why, but none of them ever responded.

Lee says this could be because they’ve had trouble spreading the word... which is why they’ve extended the deadline until the end of the year.

“At this point, I feel really good about it. Obviously, my goal is to get 100% of towns that are eligible signed up. And so, we’ll see what we look like on December 31st, 2024.” said Lee.

More information on how to sign up for the program can be found here.