Environmental and community groups in Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin are urging the EPA to step in and control nitrate contamination in drinking water. (Photo courtesy of USDA)
Groups from Iowa and several other states have asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to invoke its emergency authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act and implement a national approach to prevent further nitrate contamination in the drinking water of rural communities.
Locally, Food and Water Watch, Iowa Citizens for Community Involvement and other groups are pointing to contamination in the Driftless region of northeast Iowa and advocating for the Clean Water for Iowa Act.
In a letter to the EPA that’s signed by more than 20 environmental and community groups from Iowa, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin, the organizations say nitrate pollution from industrial-scale agriculture practices, such as manure lagoons and excess application of nitrogen to fields, has led to “an imminent and substantial endangerment” of communities whose ground and drinking water have been contaminated.