Nitrates, fecal bacteria, sediment and other pollutants in the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers threaten safe drinking water for 20% of the state’s population. That’s one of the findings from a sweeping study commissioned by Polk County supervisors in 2023 and released Tuesday.
Matt McCoy, Polk County Board of Supervisors chair, said the goal was to “provide a comprehensive, unbiased analysis of water quality” in the rivers, which converge in Des Moines and eventually drain into the Mississippi River.
The report also recommends regional and state-level actions, including:
- More state funding for wastewater treatment upgrades in the two watersheds.
- Creating a comprehensive water monitoring and modeling program for the watersheds and linking it to a public communications tool.
- Researching technologies and practices that reduce manure’s impact on source water quality.
- Building on partnerships to scale up best agricultural practices in the watersheds to reduce erosion and nutrient loss.
“The cost of addressing these problems is enormous, but the consequences of not addressing them is not an option,” McCoy said at the supervisors’ meeting Tuesday…