Water Quality

Those interested in the truth about the Iowa's water quality won't get it from the state's agricultural and political leaders, according to former research engineer Chris Jones.

Ahead of Memorial Day weekend, we return to a conversation with a woman whose brother lost his life while serving as a Navy seal in Afghanistan.

Iowa’s network of water quality sensors that track nitrogen and phosphorus levels could lose state funding under a bill that is awaiting the governor’s signature.

Dr. Jones has a new book out Friday on Ice Cube Press called “The Swine Republic: Struggles with the Truth about Agriculture and Water Quality.” The book is largely a collection of essays that first appeared on his University of Iowa blog. Jones says it’s an effort to explain to a general audience how Iowa’s politics, economics and culture affect Iowa’s water quality.

The debt ceiling crisis, the official end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the end of the 2023 legislative session are among the topics for this Pints and Politics installment of River to River.

Polk County Judge Scott Rosenberg said the DNR used “illogical interpretations and applications to approve a nutrient management plan for the feedlot" when approving Supreme Beef's manure management plan near the headwaters of a prized trout stream.

Bioreactors work; the question is whether Polk County’s promising new approach to an old problem can be expanded enough to finally address nitrate pollution.

Water utilities in Iowa and across the country would be required to monitor their treated drinking water for six “forever chemicals" under a proposal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Environmental Protection Agency recently released new rules regarding the Waters of the United States that decide which bodies of water fall under federal protection. But a case the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on soon throws those rules into question and could mean less protection for wetlands.

Iowa Agricultural Mitigation will use the $684,000 grant and matching funds to close the last two remaining agricultural drainage wells in Wright County.