Des Moines, IA — Today, news broke that EPA has rescinded its November 2024 decision to add seven new impaired waterways to Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ 2024 303(d) Impaired Waters List. The EPA had found that Iowa’s major urban drinking water supplies, including segments of the Cedar, Des Moines, Iowa, Raccoon, and South Skunk Rivers are acutely contaminated with levels of toxic nitrates that exceed federal safety thresholds.

This summer, high nitrate levels in the Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers routinely surpassed federal safety standards, contaminating drinking water and prompting the region’s first-ever lawn watering ban. A recent report commissioned by Polk County found that 80% of those nitrates are directly tied to industrial agriculture. Drinking nitrate contaminated water is linked to a host of negative health outcomes including birth defects and cancers.

Food & Water Watch Legal Director Tarah Heinzen issued the following statement:

“Iowa’s water crisis should be a call to action. Instead, Trump’s EPA is callously turning its back. The data is clearer than ever that central Iowa is facing persistent, toxic nitrate contamination endangering thousands — and industrial agriculture is responsible. In the absence of federal leadership, the Iowa legislature must act swiftly to crack down on illegal pollution and restore clean water. The Clean Water for Iowa Act is a commonsense first step to address unchecked factory farm water pollution.”