(Radio Iowa) — It’s been a summer of both dry and wet conditions depending on where you live in the state. The D-N-R’s Mark Moeller says either situation can cause concerns for drinking water.  “Droughts and floods can affect public water supplies. Floods can affect a public water supplies wells if they are near or in a flood plain,” Moeller says. He says the state tries to help communities think ahead so neither problem ends up leaving them without water. “We work with them to become more drought or flood resilient,” Moeller explains. “So, in the case of a drought, we want them to have multiple resistant sources.”

He says for example, cities which use shallow wells as their source need to think about different scenarios to be prepared. “The water table can fluctuate with a drought, and so we like for them to also have back up deeper wells. The deeper wells are not as prone to drought conditions. We really like our systems to be resilient, so that they can keep providing safe and adequate water during a flood or drought,” according to Moeller.

Ninety-two percent of the states 18-hundred public water systems get their water from wells. But a majority of the water customers get their water from a lake or river — as many of the larger cities use surface water to supply their drinking water needs.