by Cami Koons, Iowa Capital Dispatch
October 14, 2025
Environmental groups penned a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency urging the federal agency to maintain its previously rescinded ruling that seven segments of Iowa rivers were impaired due to nitrate concentrations.
The environmental groups said EPA’s decision to delist these segments was “inconsistent” with the law, failed to hold polluters accountable and would lead to increased regulatory costs for water treatment in Iowa.
The decision from EPA followed a summer with near-record high nitrate levels in the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers near Des Moines and the first-ever lawn watering ban from Central Iowa Water Works on account of the high nitrate concentrations, coupled with summer water demand.
Dani Replogle, staff attorney for the environmental group Food & Water Watch, called the EPA decision “baseless” and said it “does not inspire confidence in the federal agency meant to safeguard clean water and protect our health.”
