The question of quality: The Nutrient Reduction Strategy 10 years later

ISU researchers demonstrate conservation practices that can filter nutrients out of farm runoff at a field day in Polk County on May 24, 2023.

The question of quality: The Nutrient Reduction Strategy 10 years later

Iowa's Nutrient Reduction Strategy is a roadmap to curb the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous contaminating the state’s waterways and contributing to a massive "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico. IPR News is looking at what has — and hasn’t — changed in the decade since.

Clarifier basins are used to both bring heavy metals out of treated water and soften it with lime. Marshalltown Waterworks uses two of these basins to meet demand for the town.

Zachary Oren Smith

IPR

Iowa News

Iowa small towns lean on federal, state funding network to make clean water possible

Zachary Oren Smith

You turn on the tap and expect clean water to come out, but that comes with a cost you might not realize. It takes a confluence of federal, state and local dollars to keep water flowing to a faucet near you.

Grant Gerlock

IPR

Environment

Could whitewater trails in downtown Des Moines help change the state’s course on water quality?

Grant Gerlock

Eleanor Rogan, a professor of public health, and Don Coulter, a professor of pediatric oncology, are part of an ongoing study looking at Nebraska's drinking water and pediatric cancer at the University of Nebraska Medical Center where they work.

Natalie Krebs

IPR

Health

Nitrate levels are often higher in the rural Midwest. How does this affect health?

Natalie Krebs

Environment

Farmers have taken steps to reduce fertilizer runoff. But experts say voluntary measures won’t reverse Iowa's water quality problems

Sheila Brummer

The Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy launched a decade ago, intended to reduce nutrients flowing into rivers and lakes. A bulk of those cuts fall on farmers.
Environment

What does Iowa water quality look like after 10 years with the Nutrient Reduction Strategy?

Grant Gerlock

The Nutrient Reduction Strategy lies at the center of Iowa’s efforts to improve water quality. But how is it working 10 years after it was adopted?