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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.
The 227-page “Central Iowa Source Water Research Assessment” (CISWRA) was formally released by Polk County, Iowa, officials on July 1 after months of what multiple sources said were intentional actions by public officials to suppress details of the report.
The report caps a two-year-long research review by a team of 16 scientists that focused on pollution patterns in two “essential” rivers fed from a watershed running from southern Minnesota through the central part of Iowa to the state capital of Des Moines.
Those rivers, the Des Moines and the Raccoon, are the primary source of drinking water for roughly 600,000 people and are considered important recreational state assets, but the rivers are commonly laden with harmful contaminants that include phosphorus and nitrogen, bacteria from animal and human waste, pesticides and other chemicals.
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.
It comes as the US farm state wrestles with near-record levels of nitrates in prominent waterways, and as residents increasingly question high levels of cancer and other health problems occurring across Iowa.
Nitrate levels have been so high recently in key Iowa rivers that in June, public health officials banned about 600,000 businesses and homeowners in central Iowa from watering lawns to limit demands on utility operations seeking to filter nitrates from water for household use.
Bayer this week put a halt to its latest courtroom battle over allegations that its weed killing products cause cancer, settling a Missouri case after four weeks of testimony and just as the trial was coming to a close and just ahead of important US Supreme Court consideration.
The confidential settlement, recorded June 16 in Missouri state court in St. Louis, came after the judge in the case denied Bayer’s motion for a directed verdict in the company’s favor that would have headed off jury deliberations. It is among many similar cases that Bayer has settled since purchasing Roundup maker Monsanto in 2018.