EPA\u2019s about-face on the impairment status of Iowa drinking water sources ignores grave pollution risks and undermines public trust in agencies charged with safeguarding drinking water.<\/p>\n
IOWA\u2014In response to a lawsuit by Food & Water Watch, the Iowa Environmental Council (IEC), and the Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized its decision to, without scientific justification, delist seven impaired waterways from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources\u2019 2024 303(d) Impaired Waters List. The groups\u2019 lawsuit asks the Court to order EPA to relist the waters, which contain dangerous levels of cancer-linked nitrates.<\/p>\n
The public has a vital interest in nitrate concentrations. A recent Iowa Environmental Council and Harkin Institute report found that Iowa has the nation\u2019s worst waterway nitrate contamination. Nitrate, linked to birth defects and cancers, is found in synthetic fertilizers and factory farm waste. Iowa has the fastest rising cancer rate in the nation and the second-highest cancer rate overall.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the state reels from a worsening cancer and water pollution crisis, it is clearer than ever that Trump\u2019s EPA is turning its back on Iowa,\u201d said Food & Water Watch Staff Attorney Dani Replogle. \u201cWe look forward to judicial scrutiny of EPA\u2019s unjustified position on Iowa\u2019s drinking water sources.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe EPA is doubling down on a bad decision that has no basis in science or fact,\u201d says Michael Schmidt, General Counsel for IEC. \u201cThese major Iowa waterways are clearly polluted, and increasing evidence links nitrates in drinking water with cancer and other major health concerns. The decision to delist them is reckless and frankly dangerous for the residents of Iowa.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIowans know that we have a water quality crisis. We deserve more than the Trump EPA putting their head in the sand and refusing to act on water quality,\u201d said ELPC Senior Attorney Josh Mandelbaum. \u201cThat\u2019s why we will continue our lawsuit to provide accountability to the Trump EPA and to push for action on water quality for Iowans.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Impaired Waters list is an inventory of lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands that do not meet water quality standards set to protect designated uses (such as supporting aquatic life, human recreation, or other specific uses). States must biennially update and submit this list to the EPA. An impairment designation triggers a regulatory process that requires the development of an improvement plan. More than 700 Iowa waterways are currently designated as impaired.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In late 2024, the EPA issued a partial disapproval of Iowa\u2019s impaired waters list, citing the need to include seven polluted waterways \u2014 segments of the Cedar, Des Moines, Iowa, Raccoon, and South Skunk rivers, which are designated as drinking water sources and recreational waters for hundreds of thousands of Iowans \u2014 due to their contamination with toxic, cancer-linked nitrates exceeding federal safety thresholds. A recent analysis of the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers found that more than 80% of the rivers\u2019 nitrates stem from industrial agriculture, including factory farms and the intensive row cropping that feeds them.<\/p>\n
Then, in a highly unusual reversal outside of normal decision-making processes, the EPA rescinded its prior disapproval and tentatively delisted the seven water segments in July 2025 (see \u201cTimeline\u201d below). This EPA reversal was issued without scientific justification, despite documented evidence that these waterways are contaminated with levels of toxic nitrates that regularly exceed federal safety thresholds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
EPA\u2019s decision to reaffirm the delisting of these Iowa waters includes several major gaps and glaring oversights. For example, EPA ignores available data from the Iowa Water Quality Information System (IQWIS) citing accessibility challenges, despite the data being easily obtainable via request to the University of Iowa. Ironically, EPA also encourages Iowa to conduct more water quality monitoring through IQWIS at the same time the Iowa state legislature continues to defund the water monitoring network.<\/p>\n
Timeline\u00a0<\/p>\n
March 14, 2024: Iowa DNR releases draft impaired waters list for comment\u00a0<\/p>\n
April 2024: Iowa Environmental Council and others comment on draft list\u00a0<\/p>\n
May 3, 2024: DNR responds to comments and submits impaired waters list to EPA\u00a0<\/p>\n
November 13, 2024: EPA issues partial disapproval of DNR impaired waters list, saying DNR needs to include nitrate impairments on the Des Moines, Raccoon, Cedar, South Skunk, and Iowa Rivers\u00a0<\/p>\n
December 13, 2024: DNR, IEC, and others comment on the EPA action\u00a0<\/p>\n
December 30, 2024: EPA takes final action to list the waters\u00a0<\/p>\n
May 2, 2025: DNR talks to EPA about the nitrate listings, then emails two documents related to the original adoption of Iowa\u2019s nitrate water quality standard\u00a0<\/p>\n
July 11, 2025: EPA Region 7 sends a letter to DNR rescinding the disapproval from December, removing the nitrate impairments\u00a0<\/p>\n
October 9, 2025: IEC, Environmental Law & Policy Center, and Food & Water Watch send a letter to the EPA) challenging the agency\u2019s action to rescind its partial disapproval of Iowa\u2019s 2024 Impaired Waters list under Clean Water Act section 303(d)<\/p>\n
May 15, 2026: IEC, Food & Water Watch, and ELPC sue the EPA over its decision to delist the seven polluted waterway segments<\/p>\n
September 29, 2026: EPA confirms its decision to delist the seven waterways<\/p>\n
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EPA\u2019s about-face on the impairment status of Iowa drinking water sources ignores grave pollution risks and undermines public trust in agencies charged with safeguarding drinking water. IOWA\u2014In response to a lawsuit by Food & Water Watch, the Iowa Environmental Council (IEC), and the Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELPC), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[4979,4977,4975,4978,4976],"class_list":["post-47059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iowa","tag-iowa","tag-iowa-dining","tag-iowa-food","tag-iowa-grocery-stores","tag-iowa-restaurants"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117406449306697691","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}