The following are nuisances:
1. The erecting, continuing, or using any building or other place for the exercise of
any trade, employment, or manufacture, which, by occasioning noxious exhalations,
unreasonably offensive smells, or other annoyances, becomes injurious and dangerous to
the health, comfort, or property of individuals or the public.
2. The causing or suffering any offal, filth, or noisome substance to be collected or to
remain in any place to the prejudice of others.
3. The obstructing or impeding without legal authority the passage of any navigable river,
harbor, or collection of water.
4. The corrupting or rendering unwholesome or impure the water of any river, stream,
or pond, or unlawfully diverting the same from its natural course or state, to the injury or
prejudice of others.
5. The obstructing or encumbering by fences, buildings, or otherwise the public roads,
private ways, streets, alleys, commons, landing places, or burying grounds.
6. Houses of ill fame, kept for the purpose of prostitution and lewdness, gambling houses,
places resorted to by persons participating in criminal gang activity prohibited by chapter
723A, or places resorted to by persons using controlled substances, as defined in section
124.101, subsection 5, in violation of law, or houses where drunkenness, quarreling, fighting,
or breaches of the peace are carried on or permitted to the disturbance of others.
7. Billboards, signboards, and advertising signs, whether erected and constructed on
public or private property, which so obstruct and impair the view of any portion or part of a
\n
Tue Dec 09 21:57:59 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 657 (34, 2)
§657.2, NUISANCES 2\n\npublic street, avenue, highway, boulevard, or alley or of a railroad or street railway track as
to render dangerous the use thereof.
8. Any object or structure erected within one thousand feet of the limits of any municipal
or regularly established airport or landing place, which may endanger or obstruct aerial
navigation, including take-off and landing, unless such object or structure constitutes a
proper use or enjoyment of the land on which the same is located.
9. The depositing or storing of flammable junk, such as old rags, rope, cordage, rubber,
bones, and paper, by dealers in such articles within the fire limits of a city, unless in a building
of fireproof construction, is a public nuisance.
10. The emission of dense smoke, noxious fumes, or fly ash in cities is a nuisance and
cities may provide the necessary rules for inspection, regulation and control.
11. Dense growth of all weeds, vines, brush, or other vegetation in any city so as to
constitute a health, safety, or fire hazard is a public nuisance.
12. Trees infected with Dutch elm disease in cities.
[C51, §2759, 2761; R60, §4409, 4411; C73, §4089, 4091; C97, §5078, 5080; S13, §713-a, -b,
1056-a19; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §5740, 5741, 6567, 6743, 12396; C46, 50, §368.3, 368.4, 416.92,
420.54, 657.2; C54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §657.2]
92 Acts, ch 1163, §116; 92 Acts, ch 1231, §56; 95 Acts, ch 195, §35; 98 Acts, ch 1072, §1;
2021 Acts, ch 80, §371
Referred to in §654B.1
\n
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
55
cases (
6 in the last 5 years), 1949–2025 · leading case:
Bd. of Water Works Trs. of the City of Des Moines, Iowa v. Sac Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors, as Tr. of Drainage Districts 32, 42, 65, 79, 81, 83, 86, & Calhoun Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors & Sac Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors as Jt. Trs. of Drainage Districts 2 & 51 & Buena Vista Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors & Sac Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors as Jt. Trs. of Drainage Districts 19, 890 N.W.2d 50 (Iowa 2017).
Bd. of Water Works Trs. of the City of Des Moines, Iowa v. Sac Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors, as Tr. of Drainage Districts 32, 42, 65, 79, 81, 83, 86, & Calhoun Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors & Sac Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors as Jt. Trs. of Drainage Districts 2 & 51 & Buena Vista Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors & Sac Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors as Jt. Trs. of Drainage Districts 19, 890 N.W.2d 50 (Iowa 2017).
· cites it 14× “DMWW is correct that cases like Fisher, Gard, and Chicago Central do not involve pollution matters.”
Laurie Freeman, Sharon Mockmore, Beccy Boysel, Gary D. Boysel, Linda L. Goreham, Gary R. Goreham, Kelcey Brackett, & Bobbie Lynn Weatherman v. Grain Processing Corp., 895 N.W.2d 105 (Iowa 2017).
· cites it 6× “Under section 657.2(1), “occasioning noxious exhalations, unreasonably offensive smells, or other annoyances, [which] becomes 24 injurious and dangerous to the health, comfort, or property of individuals or the public” constitute a nuisance.”
City of Council Bluffs v. Cain, 342 N.W.2d 810 (Iowa 1983).
· cites it 6× “Defendant has made only a generalized facial attack on the requirements of the ordinance. I believe this attack is satisfactorily answered by noting the terminology of the ordinance is similar to that used in nuisance statutes.”
Bormann v. Kossuth Cnty. Bd. of Sup'rs, 584 N.W.2d 309 (Iowa 1998).
· cites it 4× “Iowa Code § 657.2 . Our cases recognize that the statutory definition of nuisance does not “modify the common-law’s application to nuisances.”
Weinhold v. Wolff, 555 N.W.2d 454 (Iowa 1996).
· cites it 4× “) Additionally, under Iowa Code section 657.2, [t]he following are nuisances: .”
Martins v. Interstate Power Co., 652 N.W.2d 657 (Iowa 2002).
· cites it 4× “1 defines nuisance and provides for civil remedies: Whatever is injurious to health, indecent, offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as essentially to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property, is a nuisance, and a civil…”
Cole v. City of Osceola, 179 N.W.2d 524 (Iowa 1970).
· cites it 6× “Whether plaintiffs and intervenor established a nuisance as defined by common law or an offense designated in code section 657.2 is not involved. We agree with the trial court’s conclusion individual plaintiffs and intervenor had not shown, by a preponderance of evidence, either…”
State Ex Rel. Turner v. Drake, 242 N.W.2d 707 (Iowa 1976).
· cites it 4× “6, The Code, 1973, which the petition alleges is a nuisance as defined in § 657.2(6), The Code, 1973. Plaintiff asserts defendants should be enjoined under § 99.”
Iowa Nat. Resources Council v. Van Zee, 158 N.W.2d 111 (Iowa 1968).
· cites it 4× “39 makes any violation of the Act an offense punishable by fine or imprisonment. From the foregoing one conclusion is inescapable.”
Guzman v. Des Moines Hotel Partners, 489 N.W.2d 7 (Iowa 1992).
· cites it 2× “Section 657.2 lists nuisances, which include certain uses of buildings; the accumulation of “offal, filth, or noisome substance” as well as any other “unwholesome or impure” corruption of streams; the encumbrance of public roads and rights-of-way; and the operation of houses of…”
— Iowa Code § 657.2(1) — 9 cases
Laurie Freeman, Sharon Mockmore, Beccy Boysel, Gary D. Boysel, Linda L. Goreham, Gary R. Goreham, Kelcey Brackett, & Bobbie Lynn Weatherman v. Grain Processing Corp., 895 N.W.2d 105 (Iowa 2017).
“Under section 657.2(1), “occasioning noxious exhalations, unreasonably offensive smells, or other annoyances, [which] becomes 24 injurious and dangerous to the health, comfort, or property of individuals or the public” constitute a nuisance.”
City of Council Bluffs v. Cain, 342 N.W.2d 810 (Iowa 1983).
“Defendant has made only a generalized facial attack on the requirements of the ordinance. I believe this attack is satisfactorily answered by noting the terminology of the ordinance is similar to that used in nuisance statutes.”
Iowa Nat. Resources Council v. Van Zee, 158 N.W.2d 111 (Iowa 1968).
“39 makes any violation of the Act an offense punishable by fine or imprisonment. From the foregoing one conclusion is inescapable.”
— Iowa Code § 657.2(2) — 2 cases
City of Council Bluffs v. Cain, 342 N.W.2d 810 (Iowa 1983).
“Defendant has made only a generalized facial attack on the requirements of the ordinance. I believe this attack is satisfactorily answered by noting the terminology of the ordinance is similar to that used in nuisance statutes.”
— Iowa Code § 657.2(3) — 1 case
— Iowa Code § 657.2(4) — 5 cases
Bd. of Water Works Trs. of the City of Des Moines, Iowa v. Sac Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors, as Tr. of Drainage Districts 32, 42, 65, 79, 81, 83, 86, & Calhoun Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors & Sac Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors as Jt. Trs. of Drainage Districts 2 & 51 & Buena Vista Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors & Sac Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors as Jt. Trs. of Drainage Districts 19, 890 N.W.2d 50 (Iowa 2017).
“DMWW is correct that cases like Fisher, Gard, and Chicago Central do not involve pollution matters.”
Amended April 11, 2017 Bd. of Water Works Trs. of the City of Des Moines, Iowa v. Sac Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors, as Tr. of Drainage Districts 32, 42, 65, 79, 81, 83, 86, & Calhoun Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors & Sac Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors as Jt. Trs. of Drainage Districts 2 & 51 & Buena Vista Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors & Sac Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors as Jt. Trs. (Iowa 2017).
— Iowa Code § 657.2(5) — 2 cases
— Iowa Code § 657.2(6) — 2 cases
State Ex Rel. Turner v. Drake, 242 N.W.2d 707 (Iowa 1976).
“6, The Code, 1973, which the petition alleges is a nuisance as defined in § 657.2(6), The Code, 1973. Plaintiff asserts defendants should be enjoined under § 99.”
— Iowa Code § 657.2(8) — 1 case
— Iowa Code § 657.2(l) — 1 case
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.