The U.S. EPA's Lead and Copper Rule Revisions (LCRR) mandates that all community water systems and non-transient non-community water systems complete and submit a comprehensive inventory of all service lines connected to the distribution system, including those not currently in use. Inventories must be submitted to the IDNR by October 16th, 2024. 

• Submission Deadline: October 16th, 2024
• Required Information: Inventories must be developed using the DNR’s lead service line inventory template, available on the Iowa DNR Lead Service Line Inventories website: https://www.iowadnr.gov/Environmental-Protection/Water-Quality/Drinking-Water-Compliance/Lead-Service-Line-Inventories. Your inventory must include details on the ownership, material classification, and verification source for each service line.
• How to Submit: Upload your inventory using the new login feature of the Iowa Drinking Water Data Portal, which is now available for use by system operators and administrative staff: https://programs.iowadnr.gov/iowadrinkingwater. There is a detailed instructional video and a Data Checker tool for validation on the Iowa DNR Lead Service Line Inventories website (see above). Please attempt to utilize the portal for uploading your inventory, but if you are not able to submit your inventory online, you can email it to [email protected].  
• Public Availability: The inventory must be made publicly accessible, and systems service over 50,000 people must provide online access to the inventory.

Please ensure that your inventory is complete, accurate, and submitted by the deadline. Failure to comply may result in regulatory action by the EPA.
If your system contains lead service lines, galvanized requiring replacement (GRR) lines, or unknown materials, you will also need to notify the people served by these lines within 30 days after October 16, 2024. The Iowa DNR will provide public notice templates to assist with this requirement. We will post examples of these templates on the Iowa DNR Lead Service Line Inventories website as soon as they are available.
Contacts/Resources:

• Login/Okta assistance
  • 1-(800)-532-1174 (Okta support desk)
• Service Line Inventory assistance hotline (Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities)
  • 1-(515)-289-5203
  •  [email protected]
• Additional lead Service Line Inventory questions
  • [email protected]
  • Jim Warren (515) 443-4186 / Anne Lynam (515) 725-0280
  • Or contact your permit writer

We appreciate your attention to this matter and your continued commitment to ensuring the safety of Iowa’s drinking water.

On September 14th, 2024, Jeff Gorrie travelled to Peoria, Illinois to Visit Family. While in Illinois, Jeff went to a Movie Night hosted by his dad’s employer, The EV Manufacturer Rivian. In 2017 Rivian acquired the old Mitsubishi Motors manufacturing plant in Normal, Illinois, and retooled the factory to begin manufacturing electric vehicles. Since then, Rivian has manufactured and shipped over 100,000 electric vehicles from this location.

Driving up to the facility was an overwhelming experience – the building is enormous, and their plot of land stretches for more than a mile long. There are staged electric vehicles awaiting shipping as far as the eye can see. The Rivian facility in Normal, Illinois is currently building their electric Truck (The R1T and the R1S), and their commercial fleet van (The EDV 500 and the EVD 700), with plans to start manufacturing the R2 SUV in 2026. You’ve likely seen their trucks being driven by private owners, and their commercial fleet vans being driven by Amazon delivery drivers.

Looking inside of the manufacturing plant, it’s one of the cleanest, brightest, biggest manufacturing plants Jeff has ever been inside of. It is interesting to see this level of high-tech manufacturing happening in the Midwest in 2024. Jeff’s overall takeaways from the visit are that Rivian is spending a lot of money (they just got a $4 Billion Investment from Volkswagen), they treat their employees well, there’s an interesting mix of robotic and human manufacturing in the plant, and there were a lot of EV’s just sitting around that hadn’t been shipped yet.
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Jeff Gorrie is currently working on a transformer toolkit APPA DEED grant to help municipal electric utilities accommodate EV charging on the grid. IAMU is keeping an eye on EV adoption rates, transformer issues, and EV charging standards. Jeff will be meeting with Rivian Employees VIA Zoom in the coming weeks to discuss utility concerns with EV charging, transformer issues, and other EV topics. If you have any questions you’d like Jeff to ask the Rivian folks, shoot him an email at [email protected].
To see more pictures of Jeff’s Rivian visit, click the following link.

Ealyid Registration Closes October 1st
53rd Annual Govenor's Safety & Health Conference
Early Bird Registration Closes October 1
Iowa Governor’s Safety & Health Conference
October 29th - 30th, 2024
Prairie Meadows Casino, Racetrack, & Hotel
Join us in Altoona for two days of conversation on how best to protect Iowa workers.
Network with colleagues, make new contacts, and continue your growth as an OESH professional.
$275 Early bird registration before October 1, 2024
$295 Registration on or after October 1, 2024
Visit iowagshc.com for more information on workshops and guest speakers. 

EPA recently issued regulations effective June 25, 2024, establishing MCLs, monitoring requirements, and suggested treatment techniques for Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in drinking water. The initial monitoring requirements apply to community and nontransient noncommunity systems. Initial monitoring must be completed by April 26, 2027. 
The DNR is conducting a voluntary program for systems with populations less than 10,000 to satisfy the initial monitoring requirements in the new regulation. By participating in the voluntary initial monitoring, a system may qualify for reduced triennial monitoring when the compliance monitoring period begins in 2027. Systems that do not meet the initial monitoring requirements will be assigned quarterly compliance monitoring. DNR will pay for the initial monitoring and shipping costs for water supplies that participate in the voluntary initial monitoring program. Each monitoring sample will cost a minimum of $370, and participation in the program will help reduce future sampling costs to systems. 
Small water supplies were previously notified of this program in a Water Supply Operations listserv sent on August 23rd, or an email sent by Kathy Lee on September 3rd. These communications contained the link to sign up for the program. 
The deadline to sign up for the voluntary initial monitoring is Friday, October 15th, 2024. DNR will be reaching out to the water supplies who haven't registered with another invitation in the next ten days.
EPA PFAS monitoring factsheet.
Initial Monitoring Cost Scenarios:

• PWS A participates in voluntary free initial monitoring and there are no detects in the samples. PWS A qualifies for reduced monitoring. The new monitoring frequency is once every three years.
• PWS B did not participate in free voluntary monitoring sampling, collected their own samples, and there are no detects in the samples. PWS B qualifies for reduced monitoring. The new monitoring frequency is once every three years.
• PWS C did not complete initial monitoring. PWS C is required to conduct quarterly monitoring. Although there are no detects in the samples, PWS C must still monitor annually for three years before it can go on reduced monitoring.

       

Jeanne Pike is our new Administrative Office Coordinator. 
Jeanne (pronounced Jean-ee) comes to us with many years of administrative and executive support experience. Most recently she was employed at MercyOne.  During her 17 years of employment, she worked as an executive assistant providing support to the Chief Financial Officer and 4 Physician Leaders.  Prior to the executive assistant position, she provided administrative support to the Provost at the College of Health Sciences.

Prior to MercyOne, Jeanne was employed as a Clinical Administrative Assistant for Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health in Mason City.

Jeanne received an Associate degree from Hamilton (Kaplan) University.  She has a Microsoft Office Specialist Certification and A+ Certified Computer Technician designation.

Please introduce yourself and welcome Jeanne to the team when you are in the office.

The AIHA Heat Stress application is a mobile app (iPhone and Android) developed through a partnership by American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) and East Carolina University intended for use in preventing heat related illnesses through recommended health measures for two specific user types. It is currently available for free download in the Google Play Android App store and Apple App store.
Our target users are:
1. Outdoor workers
2. Managers of outdoor workers
The key technical differentiator for this application is its focus on an adjusted Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) calculation to inform risk and provided needed action steps. The WBGT calculation algorithm is the core mechanism powering our app's various functions.
To understand the importance WBGT and its use in monitoring heat stress, we recommend reading Joseph G. Allen's recent Washington Post editorial, "We need to change the way we think about outdoor temperatures. The public should adopt the 'wet-bulb globe temperature.'"
Learn More About AIHA's Heat Stress App
Follow the link relevant to your phone’s operating system below. Note that wherever a user is in the world, this link should open up their respective app store

To access the Heat Stress Application on Android:
ANDROID APP DOWNLOAD LINK
To access the Heat Stress Application on Apple iPhone:
APPLE APP DOWNLOAD LINK
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