Environmental groups are pressing Iowa regulators for stricter water protections by getting up-to-date with federal recommendations and lowering nitrate limits, alleging that current safeguards are outdated, weak and leave Iowans exposed to toxics tied to rising cancer rates.
While all eyes have been on Iowa this summer, where levels of harmful nitrate contamination of water supplies spiked well above federal safety standards, nitrate pollution has also been persistently plaguing water sources in other farm states as well.
By Carey Gillam
When a team of scientists embarked two years ago on a $1 million landmark study of Iowa’s persistent water quality problems, they knew that the findings would be important to share. But now, after the completed study pointed to agricultural pollution as a significant source of the key US farm state’s water quality problems, public officials have quietly stripped funding away from plans to promote the study findings.
Hundreds of Iowans gathered at Drake University in early August to confront a growing water quality crisis linked to the state’s powerful agricultural industry. Community leaders, scientists and farmers warned of dangerously high levels of nitrates, pesticides and livestock waste contaminating the state’s drinking water.
By Carey Gillam
DES MOINES, Iowa- Several hundred Iowa residents gathered in the state capital this week, calling on public officials – and each other – to take swift action against dangerously polluted water supplies that are closely linked to the state’s powerful agricultural industry.
A controversial Iowa water safety report has confirmed what many people in the state have long feared to be true: Dangerously high levels of farm chemicals, including nitrates and pesticides are polluting waterways with potentially dire health consequences for hundreds of thousands of residents.
By Brian Bienkowski
Pesticide applicators in North Carolina and Iowa who sprayed the insecticide carbaryl often during their career have a higher risk of getting stomach, esophageal, tongue and prostate cancers, according to new research led by the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
By Carey Gillam
Agricultural operations across Iowa are a leading cause of significant water pollution problems in the state, posing dire risks to public and environmental health, according to a new scientific report that is sparking heated debate in the key US farm state.
By Carey Gillam
New research out of Iowa adds to a wide body of evidence showing that when pregnant women are exposed to nitrates in drinking water, it raises the risks of problematic birth outcomes, including low birth weights and pre-term birth. The study, published June 25 in PLOS Water, found that the risks persist even when exposures are lower than the regulatory standard for allowable levels.
Iowa is currently facing an unprecedented drinking water crisis. Recent reports indicate alarming nitrate levels in the Raccoon River; so high that city officials enacted emergency measures such as lawn water bans, to ensure water treatment facilities could comply with regulatory standards for safe drinking water. Unfortunately, at least for pregnant women, any level of nitrate in drinking water appears unsafe.