Articles in this project are edited by Carey Gillam, managing editor of The New Lede. When directors of the public water utility in Des Moines, Iowa, went to court in 2015 to try to stop toxic farm nutrients from contaminating the city’s drinking water, they knew the federal lawsuit they filed would be seen as not just a desperate step to protect public health, but also an act of defiance that would provoke a ferocious response from Iowa’s powerful farm and political leadership.