The industries employed an estimated 9,460 people. Most of the businesses in Muscatine County purchase their water from a PWS or obtain their water from a private supply not requiring a permit. There are nine water use permits for industry in Muscatine County. Currently there are three water use permits issued for power production in the county, which withdraws about 79,113 million gallons per year. Mining Water Use Mining in Muscatine County consists of sand and gravel extraction.
Activity varies from year to year based upon construction needs.
Four 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 east hydrogeologic region in which Muscatine 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 25.8 percent of wells tested for nitrates exceeded the recommended maximum. These test results are based on non-random samples.