The industries employed an estimated 6,138 people. Most of the businesses in Lee County purchase their water from a PWS or obtain their water from a private supply not requiring a permit. There are 18 water use permits for industry in Lee County. There is no power production in Lee County. Mining Water Use Mining in Lee County consists of sand and gravel extraction.
Activity varies from year to year based upon construction needs.
Five 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 Lee 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 25.3 percent of wells tested for nitrates exceeded the recommended maximum. These test results are based on non-random samples.