Environmental and community groups in Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin are urging the EPA to step in and control nitrate contamination in drinking water. (Photo courtesy of USDA)
Groups from Iowa and several other states have asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to invoke its emergency authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act and implement a national approach to prevent further nitrate contamination in the drinking water of rural communities.
Locally, Food and Water Watch, Iowa Citizens for Community Involvement and other groups are pointing to contamination in the Driftless region of northeast Iowa and advocating for the Clean Water for Iowa Act.
In a letter to the EPA that’s signed by more than 20 environmental and community groups from Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin, the organizations say nitrate pollution from industrial-scale agriculture practices, such as manure lagoons and excess application of nitrogen to fields, has led to “an imminent and substantial endangerment” of communities whose ground and drinking water have been contaminated.
The letter, submitted to the EPA on Tuesday, summarizes five similar petitions that have been made to the EPA over the past 10 years. Groups in Iowa petitioned the EPA in April 2024 to “act now to address this long-ignored health crisis in Iowa and ensure clean drinking water for Iowans.”
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The April petition was put together by the Iowa Environmental Council, Center for Food Safety, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Food and Water Watch, Environmental Working Group, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, and other local groups.
It focused primarily on the Driftless northeastern region of Iowa which has karst formations that are “particularly susceptible to contamination,” because the porous geography enables “rapid movement” of water in and out of the ground. The petition relies on state data that shows both public drinking water and private wells in the region pull from groundwater aquifers with nitrate concentration levels that “routinely exceed federal and state drinking water standards.”
The petition asks the EPA to take “prompt and decisive” action under the emergency powers granted to the department by the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Petitioners also are asking the EPA to investigate agricultural land uses that contaminate water, prohibit new or expanding livestock operations, control the source of contamination, and require the cleanup of contaminated soils.
The petition alleges state and local action has been unsuccessful in protecting Iowans from nitrate-contaminated water that petitioners said can increase the risk of birth defects, blue baby syndrome, thyroid disease, cancer and other health problems.
A statement from the EPA said the department is reviewing the letter and the multiple petitions it has received about nitrate contamination, and “plans to respond accordingly.”
EPA Region VII , encompassing Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, said in a statement that the agency is “committed” to working with the state of Iowa.
“The Safe Drinking Water Act authorizes the EPA to set national health-based standards for drinking water to protect against both naturally occurring and man-made contaminants that may be found in drinking water,” the statement read. “EPA, states, and water systems then work together to make sure that these standards are met and to identify new and emerging concerns.”
The efforts include recent regulations for PFAS and lead. Additionally, EPA has provided Iowa $83 million in drinking water infrastructure funds this year.
The statement also said private wells are not regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, but private well owners can benefit from the Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities Grant program.
Nitrate and Iowa cancer rates
Reports from the spring of 2024 indicate that among the states, Iowa had the second highest, and fastest-rising, rates of cancer. Some have pointed to pesticide use and other exposures from agriculture as the cause, while others have linked Iowa’s cancer rate to alcohol use.
Laura Beane Freeman, a senior investigator for the National Cancer Institute, spoke at the Iowa Cancer Summit, Oct. 15, about the relationship between agriculture and cancer.
A native Iowan, Beane Freeman has been part of the Agricultural Health Study, which since 1993 has studied more than 89,000 farmers and their spouses in Iowa and North Carolina to assess the connections between agricultural exposures and cancer.
“It’s not just pesticides,” Beane Freeman said. “It’s drinking water, contaminants, it’s dust, it’s diesel engine exhaust, it is concentrated animal feeding operations and nitrate.”
Beane Freeman said a lot of the research has focused on the chemicals in various pesticides, but water source and nitrate levels were among the data collected from participants. She said nitrate has been linked to colorectal cancer and researchers have observed several associations between nitrate and ovarian, thyroid and kidney cancers.
Beane Freeman said the research is ongoing in an effort to find strong association trends and to understand the exposures to the general population.
“So we need to be looking at contaminations in the water, we need to be looking at emissions in the air, and we need to be looking at other cancer sites,” Beane Freeman said.
She urged people to test their water, especially if they have private wells, which typically have higher levels of nitrate.
Food and Water Watch gather locally, look at upcoming legislative season
Around 40 people gathered at the HiFi Brew Lounge in West Des Moines on Wednesday for a forum hosted by Food and Water Watch.
Community members heard stories from rural Iowans affected by factory farming, read the organization’s Factory Farm Nation report from early October, and discussed upcoming efforts.
“If wanting clean water is being radical, then I guess I’m a radical,” Nick Schutt of Hardin County, one of the speakers at the event, said.
Michaelyn Mankel, Food and Water Watch’s Iowa coordinator, said state legislators need to focus on protecting the health of Iowans and pass the Clean Water for Iowa Act.
The Clean Water for Iowa Act, HF2354, was introduced in the 2024 legislative session, but did not advance. If passed, it would create permits and monitors for water quality on animal feeding operations.
Mankel said Food and Water Watch will also lobby against a bill that would give legal immunity to pesticide manufacturers. SF2412 passed the senate last year and is supported by Bayer, a biotechnology company known for manufacturing Roundup and genetically modified seeds.
Mankel encouraged people to show up at the Iowa Capitol and lobby for the issues that are important to them.
State Rep. Mary Madison, a Democrat incumbent running in House District 31, attended the event and told those in attendance that nothing gets the ear of legislators like a big crowd.
“When people come to the Capitol and they come in large numbers, the legislators listen,” Madison said.
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