(Radio Iowa) — A new report from the American Society of Civil Engineers gives Iowa infrastructure a “mediocre” but passing grade — and suggests raising taxes to improve water quality and finance improvements to bridges, airports and other critical infrastructure. Joshua Trygstad, a civil engineer at a consulting firm in Grimes, is president of the society’s Iowa section.

“Infrastructure is the foundation of everyday lives,” he says. “It impacts all parts of how we live, work and play in Iowa.” Christy VanBuskirk, an engineer from Hedrick, was chair of the group that evaluated 12 different forms of infrastructure and came up with the grades. “In 2019, Iowa receives an overall grade of C,” she says. “That is an improvement from the 2015 grade when infrastructure in our state received a C-minus. We’ve made progress in some areas, but we still have a lot of work to do overall.”

The engineers noted many levees in urban areas have been improved over the past decade, but it’s been difficult to get grants to improve levees in rural areas. Aaron Moniza, a civil engineer from Cedar Rapids, says reliable funding for new levee construction as well as improvements to existing systems are essential.  “In many locations, for each dollar spent on flood mitigation in advance of a flood event, multiple dollars are saved that otherwise would be spent on flood recovery efforts,” Moniza says. “Additional study on flood plain hydraulics is also needed to assess the impacts of climate change and infrastructure activities affecting run-off rates and stormwater volumes.”

The group also suggests the standards for designing and inspecting levees should be uniform throughout the country. The lowest grade — a “D” — went to the more than four-thousand dams on Iowa rivers and streams. The engineers warn the frequency and severity of flooding means MORE “emergency action plans” must be prepared to deal with the failure of dams, including the locks and dams on the Mississippi River.

The group supports raising the state sales tax to help finance water quality improvements and the civil engineers suggest the state’s gas tax should regularly increase at the rate of inflation.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Mississippi River at the Quad Cities in Iowa and Illinois has reached a new record high. The National Weather Service website on Thursday afternoon showed the river level at 22.64 feet, just above the 22.63-foot mark reached on July 9, 1993. Parts of downtown Davenport remain underwater after the river tore through a temporary barrier.

Several Mississippi River towns also are seeing floods that are closing in on levels reached in 1993, the benchmark flood for many areas of the Midwest. Two Mississippi River bridges — one at Quincy, Illinois, and another at Louisiana, Missouri — have been forced to close.

In West Alton, Missouri, 20 miles north of St. Louis, the 500 or so residents were under a voluntary evacuation as the river was expected to crest a half-foot higher than the levee can hold. Officials say the levee is so long that sandbagging isn’t an option.

(Radio Iowa) — A study of some 15 years of data on mosquitoes in Iowa finds you are most likely to contract the West Nile virus from the pests buzzing around the western side of the state. Iowa State University entomologist, Ryan Smith, says the research is the first time they’ve been able to get an idea of the pattern of West Nile transmission. “Those counties in the western region of the state seemed to be at much higher risk. And at least one of the other major conclusions from our study is that that also seems to correlate with the presence of a certain mosquito — Culex tarsalis (cue-lix tar-sal-is) — which is also found predominantly in that region,” Smith says.

Smith says the research indicates the ecology of the western counties is a big factor. “This species really kind of likes more kind of farmland area — especially that that is irrigated farmland. It really thrives in those little ditches and runoff that you might have associated with these areas,” according to Smith. “This Culex tarsalis isn’t really found in your kind of more urbanized areas. So, there is a big distinction that Culex tarsalis is usually found in these more rural areas,” he says. The I-S-U Medical Entomology Laboratory conducts yearly surveillance of mosquito populations, using a network of traps across the state that are regularly emptied and the mosquitoes inside are catalogued. Smith says they reviewed the Iowa data from between 2002 and 2016.

He says the study mirrors those from Nebraska and South Dakota with this mosquito on West Nile transmission an he says it continues all the way to California.”You can almost draw a line kind of through the middle of Iowa, and everything to the left of is where you can find this one — and everything to the right is where you wouldn’t expect it,” Smith says. But Smith cautions that this does not mean you can’t get the West Nile virus from other mosquitoes in the state. “This mosquito seems to be a little bit better at transmitting West Nile virus — but it doesn’t mean that other mosquitoes that we have throughout the state aren’t also involved,” according to Smith. “So, there are several different mosquito species that can transmit West Nile, and we do find those throughout Iowa. So, our study doesn’t say that they are not involved — it just says the one that is most likely involved in human case is this Culex tarsalis mosquito.”

Smith says you should follow the state Health Department recommendations and use a mosquito repellent with DEET and cover up exposed areas when you are going to be out at times when any mosquitoes might be active. Smith says the research answers some of the questions about West Nile transmission, but there are other questions, such as the impact of weather. “We’re starting to understand how some of these factors influence it, but even 15 years of data isn’t fully enough I don’t think to really understand what is going on.
There’s no doubt that weather patterns definitely have an impact on our mosquitoes and on transmission,” Smith says.

Iowa had 103 cases of the West Nile virus in 2018, with five deaths. The Department of Public Health says people who are infected with West Nile may not experience any signs or symptoms. Some people experience minor symptoms like fever and mild headache. Others, however, can develop a life-threatening illness that includes inflammation of the brain.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has secured another legal win to keep its new casino in western Iowa open, despite the best efforts of the states of Iowa and Nebraska.
The National Indian Gaming Commission ruled Wednesday in the tribe’s favor, saying it has the right to operate the Prairie Flower Casino on land it acquired in Carter Lake, Iowa.

While the casino is technically in Iowa, it lies west of the Missouri River, essentially in the heart of Omaha. The neighboring city of Council Bluffs, Iowa — which already hosts three state-licensed casinos — and the states of Iowa and Nebraska sued to shut the Prairie Flower down.

The lawsuit says the tribe misrepresented its intentions by initially announcing plans for a health center on the Carter Lake lot.