The Raccoon River from the Bill Riley Trail in Des Moines on Dec. 28, 2024. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Nitrate concentrations, exacerbated by a wet spring that followed years of dry conditions, reached near record highs in Iowa rivers this summer.
Concentrations are typically elevated in the summer. The past several years, nitrates have dropped to near-zero concentrations in late summer through early winter. But this year, concentrations in rivers and in central Iowa’s drinking water have remained high…