Iowa companies to use state grants to reduce water usage - Des Moines Register

Iowa companies to use state grants to reduce water usage

Five Iowa businesses get $8 million in grants for projects to cut water use
Donnelle Eller

Five businesses with Iowa operations received $8.3 million in state grants to help them with $17.5 million in projects that will cut water use and reduce wastewater discharge, Gov. Kim Reynolds has announced.

“Iowa has a long history of innovation to improve water quality and sustainability, and these projects continue that legacy,” Reynolds said in a statement Wednesday. “We rely on our land and water to provide for Iowa’s future generations, which is why we remain focused on protecting, preserving and restoring Iowa’s water resources.”

Reynolds earmarked $100 million in federal funding for water quality projects. The money coming to Iowa is part of $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act that President Joe Biden signed into law in 2021 to help families, governments and businesses recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are the companies receiving grants, according to the governor's office:

- AgCertain, which makes food, farm and bio-based products in Boone. It plans to use its $3.9 million state grant to add a reverse osmosis system. It's estimated the $8.7 million project will reduce water usage by nearly 85% and save about $1.2 million a year. Last year, AgCertain, based in Ames, purchased Maytag Dairy Farms, the maker of the iconic Maytag blue cheese in Newton.
- Arconic, a Pittsburgh aluminum manufacturer with operations in Davenport. It received a $2.2 million grant to help with a $4.4 million project to cut its water use at the Iowa plant, using a reverse osmosis unit to reclaim and reuse wastewater from its production process. The company expects to reduce its water withdrawals by about 77%.
- CJ Bio America, a South Korean company that produces amino acids in Fort Dodge. It received a $1.9 million grant to help with a $3.7 million reverse osmosis water purification project that will cut its water use by 600,000 gallons daily, and wastewater discharge by about 760,000 gallons daily. CJ Bio's products are added to swine and poultry feed.
- Hormel Foods Corp., the Austin, Minnesota, meat processor that makes Spam. It will use its nearly $58,000 grant at its Dubuque plant for a $115,625 project to improve its reverse osmosis system, reducing its chemical use, lowering costs and reducing its city water use by 9% and wastewater discharge by nearly 12%.
- Prairie Farms Dairy, a St. Louis area cooperative comprised of about 600 Midwest family farms. It will use its $275,350 state grant for a $550,700 project to upgrade its Dubuque operation with an energy-efficient compressor system to reduce water coming to the plant, saving the company $85,000 annually.