The Department of Natural Resources must consider impacts to water quality when issuing water use permits, a judge ruled in a case pertaining to Bloody Run Creek. (Photo from Google Maps)
An administrative law judge ruled recently that the Iowa Department of Natural Resources should consider water quality, as well as quantity, in the renewal of a water-use permit for a cattle operation near Bloody Run Creek.
The proposed decision is the latest development in a series of battles between water conservationists and the DNR over Supreme Beef, a 10,000-head cattle operation in Clayton County.
The issue centers on the DNR’s renewal of Supreme Beef’s water-use permit in 2022. The renewed permit would last five years and allow the livestock facility to withdraw water from two Clayton County wells at specified volumes and rates.
In July 2022, Tammy Thompson, Scott Boylen, Alicia Mullarkey, Linda Appelgate, Larry Stone, Mary Damm and Steve Veysey filed an appeal after the DNR approved the permit’s renewal. The dispute resulted in a February 2024 hearing within the state’s administrative law division, which handles disputes between citizens and government agencies.