EPA safety level is at 200 colony forming units per 100 milliliters, while samples from Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Hamburg and Burlington ranged from 270 to 68,000. The 68,000 reading was registered in Cedar Rapids.
The information is vital as Midwesterners like Cedar Spring residents who have returned home start cleaning and disinfecting their houses and furniture. While homeowners tried to fix their units, businesses needed extra hands to help clear their offices of waterlogged items. It provided temporary employment opportunities for some Cedar Springs residents who were paid $10 an hour.
But in other parts of the Midwest, sandbagging was still the main activity like in Lincoln County where volunteers were needed to fill 50,000 sandbags to strengthen the Pin Oak levee, which stretched 2 miles.
Meanwhile, the water overflow from the Coralville Dam, which had spilled since June 10, is expected to stop Tuesday. Because of the overflow, thousands of fossils from creatures that used to live in the area million of years ago were spread throughout the area.
What Iowa officials are spreading, though, are emergency benefits as they go beyond the income-level of residents in determining who gets assistance. Also taken into account were job disruptions, uninsured losses, cost of cleanup and damaged food of families from 36 Iowa counties.
The assistance is in the form of an electronic card, with a maximum amount of $540 for a family of four, given once only to affected residents. The card is accepted at most grocery stores in Iowa. The Iowa Department of Human Services said more counties would be added to the list eligible for emergency assistance.
