“Listening” and “Learning”: Rob Sand’s Approach to Water Quality Crisis

Rob Sand: “I want to be able to take my kids tubing when we’re home in Decorah in the Upper Iowa River, without having to hesitate. I want to be able to go to a beach no matter where we are in Iowa without … having to check to see if it’s safe for swimming.”

DES MOINES, IA – Yesterday, candidate for governor Rob Sand visited the Des Moines Water Works water treatment facility to tour the grounds and hear directly from experts on the state of Iowa’s water crisis.

As the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports, Rob is “‘learning’ and ‘listening’ to stakeholders to form a “‘realistic and well informed and achievable’ plan to address the issue.” Rob shares Iowans’ frustrations with the lack of answers or results by current leaders that have let this crisis go unchecked for far too long, and wants to ensure that every Iowan has safe water to drink, swim in, fish in, and enjoy across the state.

Read more about Rob’s visit to the Des Moines Water Works treatment facility and how he’s tackling this crisis head-on below:

• Iowa Capital Dispatch: Rob Sand says he’s ‘listening’ and ‘putting together a plan’ to address water quality

  • State Auditor Rob Sand, who is running as a Democratic candidate for governor, said Thursday he is still “learning” and “listening” to stakeholders to develop a plan toward what some have called a water quality crisis in Iowa.

  • Sand spoke with reporters after a tour of Des Moines Water Works, and said he agrees that water quality issues have reached a crisis point in the state, and he wants to develop a “realistic and well informed and achievable” plan to address the issue.

• Radio Iowa: Rob Sand ‘taking time to learn,’ before releasing water quality plan

  • Sand spoke with reporters after visiting the Central Iowa Water Works early this morning. “This, to me, is part of the process,” Sand said. “I think that if you are going to be a candidate for governor, but if especially you are going to be a governor, you have got to have a really good understanding of the facts.”

  • “I think we’ve hit a new high for the magnitude of this problem and the folks in charge in Des Moines are literally moving in the wrong direction,” Sand said. “The legislature just defunded nitrate monitoring systems across the state of Iowa…so people who are frustrated should be frustrated. I’m frustrated. I want to be able to take my kids tubing where we’re home in Decorah in the Upper Iowa River without having to hesitate.”