In Iowa, many rivers and lakes improve briefly, then fall back into impairment

Following years of inaction on the Clean Water for Iowa Act, one lawmaker is looking to advance several smaller bills that would improve monitoring and strengthen permit requirements for large industrial farms.

When Kim Hagemann moved to Iowa in the late 1980s, the state’s lakes and parks were among the first places she explored.

She had come from Wisconsin to attend graduate school at Iowa State University, newly married and short on money. For recreation, Hagemann and her husband drove to public lakes and parks across the state, places that, on paper, defined Iowa’s natural landscape…

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