Central Iowa property owners can water their lawns with no restrictions, Central Iowa Water Works announced today.

The group’s Technical Committee voted unanimously to resume normal irrigation and lawn watering practices for the first time since May 30.

“The technical committee has continued to diligently review the source water quality as well as
forecasted precipitation and expected water demand,” Tami Madsen, the water authority’s executive director, said in a news release. “The committee remains confident that the [Central Iowa water] system can accommodate increased demand while complying with all safe drinking water standards, and we’re moving forward.”

The watering ban was announced on June 12, after requests for voluntary reductions of 25% (Stage 1) and 50% (Stage 2) met with significant increases in demand and threatened to push nitrate concentrations in treated drinking water above the U.S. Environment Protection Agency’s standard of 10 mg/L. Throughout the water quality challenge, the Central Iowa utility has met all standards for safe drinking water.

“No one wanted to ban watering, yet, customers and civic leaders understood the need to act when public health is at risk,” Madsen said. “We are humbled by the public’s support and compliance with the mandatory restrictions — about 99% across the metro. We also know that we must take stock of what happened this year and apply the lessons learned here to better manage similar situations should they arise in the future.”

The improvement in source water nitrate levels allowed Des Moines Water Works, the system operator, to turn off the ion-exchange facility at Fleur Drive on Aug. 8. It had been operating for 112 days in 2025, though most recently at a minimum capacity.