These industries employed an estimated 10,913 people. Most of the businesses in Woodbury County purchase their water from a PWS or obtain their water from a private supply not requiring a permit. There are 21 water use permits for industry in Woodbury County. Currently there are four water use permits issued for power production in the county, which utilizes about 268,275 million gallons per year. Mining Water Use Mining in Woodbury County consists of sand and gravel extraction.
Activity varies from year to year based upon construction needs.
Seven water permits were issued for mining in the county. The State-Wide Rural Well Water Survey completed in 1989 indicates the following quality results for private well water, shown in Table 3, for the northwest hydrogeologic region in which Woodbury County is located. The Iowa State-Wide Rural Well Water Survey, 1990. The UHL's test results for the county also show that in an average year 37.4 percent of wells tested for nitrates exceeded the recommended maximum. These test results are based on non-random samples.