The Des Moines Water Works, the utility that provides drinking water to Iowa’s capital, has spent millions of dollars to clean its water of pollutants that run off from farm fields. Iowa, with about three million people, also is home to 22 million hogs and 55 million chickens. Those animals produce lots of manure, about 20 billion gallons of which is spread on Iowa’s fields.
Tired of spending all that money to clean up Des Moines drinking water, the Water Works utility filed lawsuits against some of the larger ag operations.
The Republican legislature, evidently sensitive to the interests of big ag, is now considering a bill to dissolve the utility, which would effectively end the lawsuit.
Incidentally, the EPA has found that approximately 750 streams and creeks in Iowa are also impaired, mostly because of agricultural runoff. We could take care of that problem as well by abolishing the EPA, which is now a distinct possibility.
Information for this post can be found in “Iowa Agency That Challenged Farm Runoff Faces Elimination,” Lancaster Farming, March 18, 2017, p. 10.
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