Des Moines, IA — On Tuesday evening, Governor Reynolds delivered the Condition of the State Address, marking the ceremonial start of Iowa’s legislative session. In outlining her priorities for the year, the Governor did not mention any meaningful policy solutions to address Iowa’s worsening water crisis, linked to industrial agriculture and rising cancer rates.

Meanwhile, groups representing thousands of Iowans are united in calls to permanently fund statewide water quality monitoring through the Iowa Water Quality Information System; and Food & Water Watch has released an Iowa Blueprint for Clean Water, with 20 comprehensive policy solutions to clean up widespread toxic nitrate contamination in drinking water sources. 

In response, Food & Water Watch Senior Iowa Organizer Michaelyn Mankel said:

“Governor Reynolds’ refusal to act on clean water will be one of her lasting legacies. But as she heads out the door, it is the Iowa legislature that will need to live with the decisions made this session. Iowans will not take silence for an answer to our clean water woes. No one should have to wonder whether the water they drink will give them cancer or whether their day at the lake is going to make them sick.

“The Iowa legislature cannot afford to ignore Iowa’s water crisis any longer. Commonsense policies to ensure clean, healthy water must be a priority this session.”

Background

Iowa’s drinking water is routinely contaminated with toxic nitrates in excess of the federal safety limit of 10mg/L. Drinking nitrate-contaminated water is linked to a host of negative health outcomes including birth defects and cancers; new evidence suggests that nitrate exposure may be toxic even at lower levels. Iowa has the second-highest cancer rate in the nation and is one of only two states with rising cancer rates.

Industrial agriculture is a major source of nitrates and other contaminants. Food & Water Watch analysis finds that Iowa is home to more factory farms producing more waste than any other state — 109 billion pounds annually, more than 25 times the sewage produced by the state’s human population. Iowa farmers also spread more toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizer than any other state.

This summer, nitrate levels in the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers, Central Iowa’s urban drinking water supplies, reached near-record highs, forcing Des Moines Water Works to run its nitrate removal system for 112 days. The recent Central Iowa Water Resource Assessment (CISWRA) report commissioned by Polk County, found that 80% of the rivers’ nitrates stem from industrial agriculture, including factory farms. Northeast Iowa’s sensitive driftless area has experienced decades of factory farm nitrate exposure above 10mg/L; 13 groups have petitioned EPA for emergency action.

While the problem worsens, federal agencies are turning their back on Iowa. The EPA rescinded its impaired waters designation for the state’s major urban drinking water sources, including segments of the Cedar, Des Moines, Iowa, Raccoon, and South Skunk rivers, despite finding that each was acutely contaminated with toxic nitrate levels in excess of federal limits.