Agricultural pollution is disrupting Des Moines’ waterworks. Can it continue?

Des Moines, Iowa is a sprawling conurbation of 740,000 people surrounded by agricultural businesses. In Iowa, where pigs outnumber people 7 to 1 and fields of corn and soybeans seem to stretch as far as the eye can see, Des Moines is at the center of it all.

Although very few people in Des Moines are farmers,less than 5% of Iowans— the area that is located on the banks of the Des Moines River is a focus of agricultural pollution downstream. The Des Moines Water Works (DMWW), which supplies water to approximately 600,000 people, does too.

On October 29, 23 groups from five US states wrote a letter EPA Acting Assistant Administrator for Water Resources Bruno Pigott is calling for federal intervention in the safe drinking water crisis with nitrate contamination at the center. Nitrates are the result of a chemical reaction in the soil: ammonia-based fertilizers oxidize nitrogen in the soil, turning it into nitrates. Most farmers use a calculator to determine how much fertilizer to use, but most apply more than that for insurance, knowing that some may be lost to rain or other events. With excessive application of fertilizers, like about 70 percent of farmerseverything that is not absorbed by plants and soil seeps into aquifers in the form of nitrates.

In children, exposure to nitrates can cause a blood condition called methemoglobinemia, also known as Blue baby syndrome. Exposure to nitrates in adulthood is potentially linked to certain cancers and other health problems.

“Nitrate pollution and the harm it causes to human health requires a national approach and response given the growing prevalence of the problem and the array of ineffective government strategies,” the letter states.

In 1992, the world’s largest nitrate removal plant, located at DMWW, was completed and is still in operation today. The EPA sets a limit for nitrates in drinking water of 10 parts per million (10 mg/L). To meet this requirement, when the rivers from which Des Moines draws its water are too high in nitrates, the DMWW operates the facility. For years, DMWW has turned the plant on and off based on nitrate levels. But this year there were many moments of continuous rain, which left the soil saturated and less absorbent, and the facility ran for two months straight at a cost of $10,000 to $16,000 a day. The costs of maintaining this facility are fully borne by the payers.

“The cost of excess fertilizer is being passed on to Des Moines Water Works customers,” said Michael Schmidt, spokesman for the Iowa Environmental Council (IEC).

In 2015, DMWW sued three counties for damage to water supplies caused by agricultural pollution. State dismissed the lawsuit because the counties would not be able to recover for the injuries alleged by DMWW in the lawsuit. In 2021, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and Food & Water Watch also filed suit, alleging that the state violated the public trust by failing to protect the cleanliness of the Raccoon River, a tributary of the Des Moines River from which DMWW receives its drinking water. State Supreme Court hit him.

Since the 1990s, when DMWW first violated the nitrate drinking water standard, it has been a utility with an advocacy bent, calling for changes upstream to reverse impacts on water downstream. As the climate changes, extreme weather events may cause increased runoff and, as a result, higher nitrate concentrations.

“As we see these weather events become more and more extreme, we get these periods where it’s really dry and then really wet, and we see this kind of whiplash from drought to flooding,” said Chris Jones, a former IIHR research engineer. —Hydroscience & Engineering at the University of Iowa and the author Pig republic. “Nitrates tend to be worse in the flood part than otherwise.”

Nitrogen pollution starting in Iowa can cause algae blooms in watersheds from the Raccoon River to the Gulf of Mexico. As metro Des Moines’ population grows and the state’s water policy remains unchanged, some advocates wonder if the water utility can hold its own.

Downstream effects

The Des Moines River originates in southwestern Minnesota, flows southeast to the city of Des Moines, and then empties into the Mississippi River in southeastern Iowa. The river cuts through the heart of the Corn Belt, past highly industrialized farms and agricultural businesses.

Over the past few years, Iowa farms have been the subject of numerous lawsuits and widespread criticism over clean water. This summer, the Des Moines Register editorial board published an editorial titled “Disastrous Numbers Show Poverty of Iowa’s Approach to Water Quality.”

The work draws attention to Nutrient reduction strategy (NRS), a voluntary program the state implemented in 2013, aims to reduce pollution in local waterways.

Eleven years later, NRS had little impact. According to Schmidt of the Iowa Environmental Council, water pollution in Iowa is likely to get worse because the federal Clean Water Act does not apply to all agricultural runoff.

“The Clean Water Act is very good at reducing point source pollution, but for nonpoint sources like row crops, the Clean Water Act has proven to be an insufficient tool. Because of this, we get an increase in nitrate loading that is not reduced as required by the nutrient reduction strategy,” he said.

DMWW primarily receives its drinking water from the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers. To reduce nitrate levels in their water, in the early 2000s DMWW opened two new treatment plants and began tapping other aquifers. They even store cleaner water underground to mix with the water when the nitrate concentration gets too high.

DMWW Chief Operating Officer Ted Corrigan explained that much of the work DMWW does to address the nitrate problem involves working with and educating farmers. DMWW works with an agricultural cooperative and even helped them purchase equipment to plant cover crops in the Raccoon River watershed, which would ideally create cleaner water downstream.

“When I started 35 years ago, I was an engineer and I was going to build something,” he said. “It never occurred to me that I would be doing something like this.”

Clean water as a human right

Iowa has the rate of cancer is rising the fastest in the US Some proponents believe it has to do with water quality.

“It seems to me that Iowans here feel that there is something wrong that doesn’t correlate with our self-esteem as Iowans as strong, healthy and leaders of the nation,” said attorney James Larue, who recently co-founded the Iowa water protection group Driftless Water Defenders. with Jones. “Now to be at the root of these terrible statistics, I think it’s reawakening.”

From a legal standpoint, 2024 has been a year of big action to protect Iowa’s water. In February, the State Congress Art Stead entered The Iowa Clean Water Act, which tightens regulations on emissions from concentrated animal feedlots, or CAFOs. In April, the MVK named after contacted the EPA to intervene in the nitrate crisis in the northeastern part of the state. The bill has not moved forward and the EPA has not yet responded to the IEC, although a response is expected in November, Schmidt said.

Larue and Jones also recently proposed an amendment to the Iowa constitution. Their group proposes amending Article 1, Section 1, which guarantees “to all men and women … certain inalienable rights,” to include “the right to access to clean water and clean air.”

“I think Iowans feel there is something wrong that doesn’t correlate with our self-esteem as Iowans as a strong, healthy, leading nation.”

— James Larue, Driftless Water Defenders

“The state has a firm duty to protect natural resources not only for this generation, but also for all generations,” said Larev. “When it’s in the Constitution, it gives citizens the right to challenge the state for not adequately protecting this fundamental right to access to clean water.”

Back in Des Moines, Corrigan reiterated that things need to change in Iowa so that Des Moines can continue to provide residents with safe drinking water. In addition to expanding DMWW production and treatment capabilities, the state’s water quality trajectory needs to change, he told Inside Climate News.

“We shouldn’t just keep putting things in the water and assume that whoever needs to use the water downstream will just treat it as much as they need. We can’t pollute forever, Corrigan said. “I truly believe we have a way to do both — to have profitable agricultural production and clean water. And I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. I think we just have to find a way to help them coexist.”