The industries employed an estimated 376 people. Most of the businesses in Shelby County purchase their water from a PWS or obtain their water from a private supply not requiring a permit. There are two water use permits for industry in Shelby County. There is no power production in Shelby County. Mining Water Use Mining in Shelby County consists of sand and gravel extraction.
Activity varies from year to year based upon construction needs.
Two 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 southwest hydrogeologic region in which Shelby 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 44.9 percent of wells tested for nitrates exceeded the recommended maximum. These test results are based on non-random samples.