Rebecca Schweitzer on Water Quality and What Iowa Families Deserve

Rebecca Schweitzer is a Des Moines, Iowa writer covering politics, healthcare, public accountability, and civic life. In response to ongoing discussions around water quality in Iowa, this piece offers perspective on how these issues impact families and communities across Iowa, including Des Moines and Polk County. Learn more about Rebecca Schweitzer here: iowaraisedrebeccaschweitzerunfiltered.com/about-rebecca-schweitzer-des-moines-iowa

Iowa's Water Quality Problem Is Not a Farmers vs. Cities Issue. It Is an Everyone Issue.

Iowa has a water quality problem. That is not a political statement. It is a fact that shows up in nitrate levels in drinking water, in the hypoxic dead zone at the mouth of the Mississippi River, and in the ongoing costs that Des Moines Water Works passes along to ratepayers to remove contaminants from the water flowing into homes across Polk County.

Iowa is also one of the most agriculture dependent states in the country. Farming is woven into the identity of this state in a way that goes far deeper than economics. It is cultural. It is generational. It is personal for a lot of Iowans including me. I grew up on an Iowa farm and my father still farms today.

Those two things are not in conflict. You can love Iowa agriculture and demand clean water. You can support Iowa farmers and believe that the current system is not working for anyone. Iowa families deserve both a strong agricultural economy and water they can safely drink. That is not too much to ask.

What Is Actually Happening

Iowa leads the Mississippi River basin in nitrogen and phosphorus runoff. That runoff flows from Iowa fields into streams, rivers, and eventually into the Mississippi River contributing to a hypoxic dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico that costs the fishing industry billions of dollars every year.

Closer to home the impact is direct. Twelve percent of private wells in Iowa have nitrate levels that exceed the EPA maximum contaminant level for public water supplies. For the roughly 300,000 Iowans who depend on private drinking water wells that is not an abstract environmental statistic. That is their drinking water.

Des Moines Water Works has spent millions of dollars removing nitrates from the water supply serving greater Des Moines. Those costs are passed along to ratepayers. Iowa families in Polk County are literally paying on their water bills for the cost of agricultural runoff that the state has not required the agricultural industry to address adequately.

Iowa also has the highest average radon level in the United States. The average indoor radon concentration in Iowa is six times the national average. Radon is a leading cause of lung cancer and Iowa's elevated levels contribute directly to the state's rising cancer rate. Iowa leads the nation in new cancer cases and radon is one of the most significant and most preventable contributing factors. I wrote about Iowa's cancer report and the questions it did not ask — you can read that here: iowaraisedrebeccaschweitzerunfiltered.com/3066273_rebecca-schweitzer-iowa-s-cancer-report-didn-t-ask-the-most-important-question-for-polk-county

What Iowa Is and Is Not Doing

Iowa has a Nutrient Reduction Strategy that was adopted in 2013. It is a voluntary framework that asks farmers and communities to reduce nutrient runoff. More than a decade later nutrient levels in Iowa waterways have not improved meaningfully. Voluntary compliance without accountability produces voluntary results.

The Iowa legislature has consistently resisted mandatory water quality standards for agriculture. This is part of a broader pattern I have written about. The same legislature passed two healthcare bills in one week that made things worse for Iowa families. You can read that here: iowaraisedrebeccaschweitzerunfiltered.com/3083391_iowa-passed-two-healthcare-bills-in-one-week-both-make-things-worse-for-iowans

In 2023 the legislature attempted to limit the liability of chemical companies in relation to water contamination. That bill would have made it harder for communities like Des Moines to hold polluters accountable for the cost of cleaning up the water supply.

Iowa offers free county based well water tests for nitrates, arsenic, and coliform bacteria. That is a good program. But approximately 40 percent of Iowans with private wells do not regularly test, treat, or avoid their drinking water according to a recent survey. Awareness and access matter. The state could do significantly more to reach the Iowans who need this information most.

What Iowa Families Deserve

Iowa families deserve water they can safely drink without paying extra on their utility bill to remove agricultural contaminants. They deserve a state government that treats water quality as a public health priority rather than a political inconvenience. They deserve elected officials who will stand up to the well funded agricultural lobby and demand meaningful accountability for nutrient runoff rather than accepting a decade of voluntary compliance that has not worked.

Iowa farmers deserve a path forward that does not pit their livelihoods against their neighbors drinking water. Conservation practices like cover crops, wetland restoration, and prairie strips have been shown to reduce nutrient runoff significantly. Iowa farmers who adopt these practices deserve robust financial support and recognition. The state should be making it easier and more financially viable to farm in ways that protect Iowa's water, not harder.

Iowa's water quality crisis is solvable. The science is clear. The conservation tools exist. What has been missing is the political will to require meaningful action rather than waiting for voluntary compliance to deliver results it has not delivered in more than a decade.

Iowa families deserve better. Iowa farmers deserve better. Iowa's water deserves better.

Rebecca Schweitzer is a Des Moines, Iowa writer covering politics, healthcare, and public accountability. Read more at iowaraisedrebeccaschweitzerunfiltered.com. Follow along on Medium and on X .