In its water quality lawsuit, Des Moines Water Works is fighting a longstanding precedent protecting drainage districts from lawsuits.

 

Arguments in front of the Iowa Supreme Court on Wednesday could determine whether Des Moines Water Works can win financial damages for nitrate pollution flowing into the Raccoon River.

 

A ruling in favor of the central Iowa utility could significantly alter a century of legal precedent. For decades, agricultural drainage districts created to turn swampy, wet ground into valuable Iowa farmland have been protected from most lawsuits.

 

Unlike cities or counties, these quasi-governmental entities are set up at the request of landowners to perform a very specific task: Move water out of flat Iowa fields that can't drain themselves naturally so that farmers can plant crops. A drainage district is "merely an area of land," so it cannot be sued in civil court for monetary damages, the Iowa Supreme Court has ruled.

 

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