On February 10, 2026, Food & Water Watch, along with the Iowa Environmental Council, sent the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a notice letter announcing our intent to sue in response to the Trump administration’s decision to claw back its listing of seven nitrate-impaired waterways on Iowa’s 2024 Impaired Waters List.

The federal Clean Water Act is our primary law protecting clean water, and requires that each state periodically create a list of impaired, or polluted, waters and submit those lists to EPA for approval. Every state must assess the quality of its waters, list as impaired those lakes and stream segments that do not meet state water quality standards, and prioritize developing clean-up plans for those waters. These clean-up plans are key to restoring degraded waterways and provide the public with critical information about water pollution that can harm human health and the environment.

In 2024, EPA reviewed Iowa’s impaired waters list and determined that segments of the Cedar, Des Moines, Iowa, Raccoon, and South Skunk Rivers — waters that supply drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people — were impaired due to nitrate concentrations that exceed federal safety thresholds. But after the Trump administration came back into power, EPA reversed course, rescinding the listings without providing any scientific justification.

This unreasoned decision is not only irresponsible — it’s dangerous. Nitrate pollution is linked to thyroid disorders, birth defects, colorectal cancer, and a potentially fatal condition known as Blue Baby Syndrome. Many of these harmful conditions are associated with nitrate levels far below EPA’s existing 10mg/L drinking water limit, as that standard was designed to protect only against Blue Baby Syndrome.

Last summer, nitrate levels in the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers, Central Iowa’s urban drinking water supplies, reached near-record highs. The pollution forced Des Moines Water Works to run its expensive nitrate removal system for 112 days, a measure that led to the area’s first-ever lawn watering ban as the system struggled to keep up with the high nitrate concentrations. Iowa is clearly experiencing a water quality crisis, and EPA should be doing more to help — not undoing the little progress that has been made.

Without Clean Water Act clean-up plans, Iowa’s nitrate-laden rivers will continue threatening public health. EPA must be held accountable for its egregious about-face on Iowa’s impaired waters list; our lawsuit will aim to do just that.