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Water Quality

In 1998 the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, along with the Iowa Division of the Izaak Walton League, Iowa Environmental Council, Iowa Farm Bureau, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the University of Iowa Hygienic Laboratory began a cooperative effort to monitor and cleanup Iowa's waterways. The IOWATER initiative recruits volunteers to monitor waterways throughout the state and trains them in proper water testing methods. They also provide all of the testing equipment and chemicals necessary for the tests.

Throughout 2006 Hurley Creek and McKinley Lake were tested every 2 or 3 weeks at 8 different points to assess water quality and get some idea of where to begin to concentrate cleanup efforts. In order to meet the criteria published in Environmental Protection Rule 567, Chapter 61, "Water Quality Standards" the Hurley Creek McKinley Lake Restoration Project was begun in late 2007 to organize efforts to cleanup the watershed for safe recreation purposes.

Testing results data showed that McKinley Lake has siltation problems due to excessive erosion and that water quality is compromised by non-point sources of phosphates and e-coli bacteria which are caused by human and animal waste. This PowerPoint presentation (best viewed in Internet Explorer) explains acceptable levels and possible sources of the contamination.