Pattison offers some insight into how requested water would be used
By Audrey Posten | Times-Register
Pattison Sand Company owner Kyle Pattison acknowledges he could have done a better job of informing the public about the company’s request to dramatically increase water withdrawals and sources of water at its sand mining operation near Clayton.
According to an Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) water use permit summary report, Pattison would like to modify a permit to triple its current maximum water withdrawal quantity from 976.8 million gallons per year to 3.7 billion—a level that would rank it in the top 10 of roughly 320 quarries in the state.
The request to modify the permit, which the DNR has recommended granting, was the subject of an April 22 public hearing in Elkader, during which not one of the at least 80 people in attendance spoke in support of the water withdrawals.
Attendees criticized a lack of notice and information about the water use, and worried about the withdrawals’ potential impact on the Jordan Aquifer and local wells and municipalities. People also disagreed with the DNR’s assessment that Pattison’s need for more water is justified, while disputing that a corporation should be allowed to pull water from a public resource without being charged for it.
Two officials from the DNR—Chad Fields, a geologist with the Iowa DNR’s Water Supply Engineering Section, and Bradley Adams, an attorney for the Water Quality Bureau—led the hearing but would not make a statement or answer questions. Additionally, no representatives from Pattison Sand Company spoke at the public hearing, although Pattison said he was in attendance.
“I was at the public meeting and should have spoken to help others better understand,” he said, when later asked by the Times-Register for more information on how the water will be used.
According to Pattison, the reason for the request of additional water to be pumped is to quarry limestone below the water table.
“There is a massive flow of water in this area and this much water may be needed to dewater the quarry,” he explained. “If we did not pump the water we use, it would end up in the Mississippi River in a short time. If we did not pump, at times, our rail tracks would be under water.”
Other than water that evaporates, Pattison reported all the water the company uses goes back into the ground or is pumped into a creek that runs into the Mississippi River.
“With this, our impact on ground water and the river is very little,” in Pattison’s assessment. “From past pump tests and observations, draw down will not impact any wells, including our own. Much of the water pumped is from rain water and our own previously pumped water. This is because we are, for the most part, all internally drained.”
Pattison Sand Company employs 175 people from the area, according to Pattison.
“Being able to pump water as needed is important to all of us,” he stated.
The Iowa DNR is continuing to review Pattison Sand’s application, and a written comment period has been extended until May 27. Fields anticipates the DNR will make a decision 60 days after May 27, at most. “We will also have a public meeting of some sort to communicate the decision and what goes behind it,” he said.
