Description: Polk County, Iowa, commissioned the Central Iowa Source Water Research Assessment in 2023; 16 scientific researchers spent 4,000+ hours analyzing data and then reporting about pollutants of concern in the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers. Presenters reveal key findings of the report, as well as important action steps for improved source water quality.

Author: Jennifer Terry (Polk County Iowa)*; Elliot Anderson (IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering, University of iowa); Mary  Skopec (Iowa Lakeside Laboratory)

Author Bios: Dr. Mary Skopec currently serves as the Executive Director of the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory Regents Resource Center, which is an Iowa Board of Regents facility dedicated to education, research and outreach.  Prior to coming to Lakeside, Skopec spent 18 years with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources where she managed several water quality programs including the ambient stream, beach and the IOWATER citizen monitoring program.  Dr. Skopec holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. from the University of Iowa.

 Dr. Elliot Anderson is originally from Geneva, IL, and received his B.S. in Civil Engineering at Purdue University. For several years, Anderson worked as a Water Resources Engineer for a transportation consulting firm in Chicago. In 2019, Dr. Anderson joined the University of Iowa to complete a Ph.D and has continued to work as a postdoctoral researcher with IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering since graduating in 2022. 

Jennifer Terry is an alumnus of the University of Iowa College of Law, receiving her Juris Doctorate in 2013. An attorney, Terry is an Iowa native, raised on a dairy farm in north central Iowa, where she developed a passion for conserving and protecting Iowa’s land and water. Terry has been an advocate for policies and partnerships that restore and protect Iowa watersheds—as executive director of the Iowa Environmental Council and as external affairs manager at Des Moines Water Works, the largest drinking water utility in Iowa. Terry will lead the CISWRA project to its completion in 2025.