Iowa’s Water Year was the first with above-normal precipitation since 2019.
The year, which ran from October 2023 through September 2024, saw the end of the four year drought in Iowa, as per the latest Water Summary Update.
However, a record breaking dry September is raising concerns for 2025, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Precipitation for the last water year was 36 inches, or a half-inch above normal, with increased rainfall numbers beginning in October 2023 through July of this year.
Since then, precipitation has dropped to below normal levels. September’s preliminary statewide precipitation was 0.72 inches, which is the driest September on record for the state.
Due to extremely dry conditions, outdoor burning bans are now in effect for Lyon and Osceola counties in Northwest Iowa.
However, the spring and early summer rain also contributed to elevated nitrate concentrations in many of the region’s waterways.
During dry years, nitrates from soil microbes and farm fertilizers can accumulate in fields. When the rain returns, a lot of it flushes into rivers, lakes and sources of drinking water.
Kim Lutz is the executive director of America’s Watershed Initiative, which works across 31 states.
“As we're getting more extreme weather events, especially in the Midwest, that's liberating a lot of the things in the soil that are legacy pollutants,” Lutz said.
Lutz says this pollution is a problem for habitats in and around affected waterways, and it’s hurting industries like fishing and tourism.
It’s also costing communities a lot of money to treat drinking water. But Lutz says new federal funding and conservation practices like cover crops can help.
*Additionally, Iowa election officials have been working to test all of the vote counting machines that’ll be used in this fall’s election. It’s a routine process that helps ensure Iowans’ votes are counted accurately.
When Iowans go to vote in person, they’ll take their completed paper ballot and place it in their polling place’s vote counting machine. The testing helps make sure that if there are any problems with the ballot—like marking too many candidates—the machine will flag them.
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says he wants Iowans to feel confident that the election results are correct.
“The pretesting we’re doing is to let them know that the technology is working. And it’s public testing, so everyone can watch and monitor it. We have paper ballots. Let’s not forget that that’s a way for us to be able to go back and do a complete review if we need to,” Pate said.
Pate says each county also conducts post-election audits to check again that the vote counting machines worked properly.
*Additionally, the price for unleaded self-serve gas in Iowa has gone down in six of the last seven weeks.
In the last week of September, the price rose for the first time in six weeks, going up by 7 cents per gallon. This week, as October began, the average price of self-serve unleaded gasoline dropped by 5 cents over the last week, averaging $2.99 across Iowa, according to AAA.
Compared to one year ago, the Iowa unleaded gas price is down 55 cents.
Many Sioux City and surrounding town stations are selling unleaded this week in the range from $2.72 to $2.94, or less than the state average. The national average unleaded price has now dropped to $3.20.
*Eighteen lakes across Iowa are gearing up to receive trout this fall.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources will release between 1,000 to 2,000 rainbow trout at each location as part of its cool weather trout program that brings trout to areas that cannot support them during the summer months.
Trout are typically found in Northeast Iowa, and the stocking of that fish offers other places of Iowa a close-to-home option to discover trout fishing.
Among the 18 lakes and ponds that will get the trout, that will take place on November 5 at Bacon Creek Park in Sioux City and Scharnberg Pond in Spencer.
