A long-awaited scientific report commissioned by Polk County says farm pollution threatens the ability to drink clean water and to safely interact with central Iowa streams, Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. The county announced its Central Iowa Source Water Research Assessment in 2023 and heralded it as a first-of-its-kind, unbiased and comprehensive examination of the watersheds […]
Des Moines River
Posted inCommunity/News
EPA confirms additions to Iowa’s impaired waters list
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency affirmed its November decision to add seven additional segments to Iowa’s list of impaired waters, following a public comment period. EPA announced in November it had partially approved the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ assessment of surface water quality in the state and called for the inclusion of additional segments […]
Posted inRecreation
Contact Buzz: Recreation is renewal
“A period recourse into the wilds is not a retreat into secret silent sanctums to escape a wicked world, it is to take breath amid effort to forge a better world.”—Benton MacKaye (1879-1975), American forester, planner and conservationist “The intellect must not be kept at consistent tension, but diverted by pastimes…The mind must have relaxation, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa’s ‘chocolate milkshake’ water, expensive to filter and a menace downriver, comes courtesy of Big Ag and its allies in the statehouse
Ten years ago, the state of Iowa published its Nutrient Reduction Strategy (NRS), a plan to reduce the amount of nitrate and phosphorus polluting not just the state’s waterways, but that of everyone downstream from Iowa, until the pollution flows into the Gulf of Mexico, where it helps create the massive dead zone that forms […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
Photos: East Village’s 2022 Holiday Promenade ends with fireworks over the river
The Historic East Village ended its 21st annual, five-week Holiday Promenade celebration with fireworks in the snow. Every Friday from Nov. 18 through Dec. 16, the East Village was full of shoppers exploring local retailers, who kept their shops open until 9 p.m. to maximize gift shopping opportunities. Restaurants joined in the festivities as well, […]
