(Photo by Russ Mitchell) Some murky conditions at Lost Island Lake put the spot on the Iowa Department of Natural Resource's list of impaired waters. Trumbull Lake in northeast Clay County and Willow Creek near Royal in Clay County also made the list, which was compiled in 2006 and released in 2007. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has scheduled a series of meetings to address ways to prevent declines in water quality.

The Spencer Public Library will be the site for one of six meetings around the state to update area residents about changes to Iowa' water quality policy.

The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 5, at the library, which is located at 21 East Third Street. The forum is intended to inform regulated industries and cities about requirements to protect and maintain existing water quality from unnecessary pollution.

"Water quality standards are the goals that we set for our water bodies -- what do we want them to achieve," said Lori McDaniel, the DNR supervisor in charge of the water quality standards program. "There's three components of water quality standards."

* "The first is designating the use or uses: How do we use that water body? For recreational uses, or what type of aquatic life is in that water body?"

* "The second component is setting the criteria. What are the parameters that people have to meet if they're discharging into the water body?"

* "The third component is to maintain and protect the existing water quality that is there right now. So it's preventing any further degradation of that water quality -- we don't want the water to get any worse than it is. That's the component we're talking about at these public, open, informational meetings."

If a municipality or industry proposes a new or increased discharge, they must consider alternatives to the discharge that would cause less or no pollution, or degradation, as part of the new policy.

"We have a draft of the rules available and, what we wanted to do, is talk to people and facilities that would possibly be affected by these rules -- and also the public and letting them know, if they're interested in water quality in their area," McDaniel said.

For any new or increased discharge of a pollutant, DNR officials will ask that facility to go through an alternatives analysis to look for any non-degrading or less degrading alternatives than their normal pollution-control processes.

The DNR also will take the feasibility of a water quality plan into consideration. In some cases an alternative conservation plan is too expensive or not practical.

"If a town can't afford another $500,000 just to put in the alternative and you're not getting very much benefit by putting in that alternative, we're not going to force them to do that," McDaniel said. "It's asking them to take a look: Are there any less degrading or non-degrading options that are feasible?"

The presentations will be followed by an informal session where people can provide input or get their questions answered on how changes might affect them or their communities.

Another component to the anti-degradation policy open for discussion is the process for categorizing Outstanding Iowa Waters. These waters of exceptional recreational or ecological significance, would receive a higher level of protection through the anti-degradation policy.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has already held meetings in Clear Lake and Des Moines. A meeting will be held earlier in the day on Aug. 5, in Atlantic. Manchester and Washington also are host cities for the meeting.