Democratic candidate for Iowa attorney general Nate Willems said Wednesday that “bullying does not work” on him and he won’t be pulling ads targeting current Attorney General Brenna Bird in relation to an Iowa pollution case. Willems’ campaign has been threatened with a lawsuit from biofuel producer POET, after the campaign released an ad criticizing […]
water pollution
Posted inCommunity/News
Clean water candidate Chris Jones is realizing he ‘actually might win’ against Ag Sec Mike Naig, endorsed by Iowa Farm Bureau
“Back in November, I signed up to be a sacrificial lamb,” Chris Jones, the Democratic candidate for Secretary of Agriculture, told the overflow crowd at Captain Roy’s bar and restaurant in Des Moines on Sunday evening. “And then something happened — I don’t really even know what — and now it looks like we actually […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘The outrage has finally arrived’: Naig challenger Chris Jones calls for systemic changes to Iowa agriculture at state fair
The Democratic candidate for Iowa secretary of agriculture told Iowa State Fair attendees Saturday that “the outrage has finally arrived” for the state of Iowa’s water, and said systemic change rather than incremental fixes is the way to clear up waterways and improve other areas of Iowans’ lives. Chris Jones criticized “Band-Aid approaches” to fixing […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Despite the health crisis in Iowa and beyond, the EPA has stalled its long-planned nitrate cancer review
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has backed off its reassessment of cancer-causing nitrates despite decades of research suggesting the contaminant is more harmful than previously thought and that nitrate pollution is at crisis levels in U.S. drinking water. The agency would not confirm the assessment was canceled, but the work has been stagnant for more […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
Central Iowa Water Works ends all watering restrictions as record-setting nitrate levels dip back down
Central Iowa Water Works (CIWW) has lifted all restrictions on outdoor watering. The utility, which provides water to 20 percent of the state’s population, imposed a ban on lawn watering on June 8. “The lawn watering ban is not due to a lack of water in our rivers or reservoirs,” CIWW said in a news […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa has 15,309 animal feeding operations, aerial mapping finds — thousands more than the state monitors
An analysis from Environmental Working Group (EWG) mapped 15,309 animal feeding operations in Iowa, which is several thousand more than what is tracked and monitored by the state. The group utilized satellite and aerial imagery to map animal feeding operations across Iowa and estimate the amount of manure they produce. The report also notes a […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Lax oversight of hog CAFOs harms endangered species, study finds
Large concentrated hog farms that send manure contamination into local waterways not only impact human health but threaten the existence of more than a dozen endangered species, according to a new study published in the journal Conservation Science and Practice. Researchers examined the overlap between endangered species and hog concentrated animal feeding operations, CAFOs, in […]
Posted inCentral Iowa
Lawn watering ban enacted in central Iowa due to high nitrate levels, affecting 20% of the state population
Central Iowa Water Works (CIWW) imposed a lawn-watering ban on Monday. This is the second year in a row the water utility has banned watering by its 600,000 customers in the greater Des Moines area and beyond. “The lawn watering ban is not due to a lack of water in our rivers or reservoirs,” according […]
Posted inCommunity/News
University of Iowa launches new research project into state’s health crisis
The University of Iowa on Wednesday announced the launch of a statewide research initiative aimed at understanding how environmental exposures may be causing a range of dire health problems experienced by people around the state. With initial funding of $6 million and a goal for $10 million, the university said it will gather and analyze […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Central Iowa Water Works asks its 600,000 customers to ‘use water wisely’ as nitrate levels spike
It has been almost a year since Central Iowa Water Works (CIWW) had to impose an unprecedented outdoor watering ban on the 600,000 residential and business customers it serves in the Greater Des Moines area and beyond because of the high levels of nitrate pollution in the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers. Now, the water […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa’s most important water monitoring network still has no state funding
Advocates of the state’s widest-spread and fastest-with-data water quality monitoring system are feeling frustrated by a lack of state support, and say appropriations that did make it through the legislative process won’t help every Iowan. The Iowa Legislature went back and forth on funding for water quality during the final days and hours of its […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Farm runoff linked to elevated nitrate levels in drinking water serving more than 60 million Americans
More than 60 million Americans get their water from sources contaminated with elevated levels of nitrate pollution, which is most likely coming from agricultural manure or fertilizer runoff, according to a new analysis. The report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) used federal drinking water data and found that roughly 6,114 US water systems that […]
