Ag secretary: Environmentalists’ alarm is ‘propaganda’ Also on the list were Minnesota’s Boundary Waters the South River in Georgia the Pecos River in New Mexico Tar Creek in Oklahoma McCloud River in California the Ipswich River in Massachusetts and the Turkey River in Mississippi. Topping this year’s list of the most-endangered rivers was the Snake River in Idaho, Washington and Oregon due to questions over dams. The Missouri and the Mississippi River along Iowa have made the list in previous years. The Missouri River along Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas was second on American Rivers’ list this year, largely over questions about management by the U.S. We cannot continue to disregard the serious harms of unrestricted agricultural pollution,” CCI organizer Abigail Landhuis said in a statement. ”The state of Iowa has favored the profits of massive agribusinesses over the interests of Iowans for far too long. Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and Food & Water Watch joined in the report. This voluntary approach has failed to reduce dissolved nutrient levels and water pollution, while factory farms continue to expand unabated, with 300-600 new factory farms added to the state each year,” the American Rivers report noted.
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Iowa’s legislature has given these polluting operations free rein, relying on an insufficient voluntary strategy to reduce agricultural pollution in rivers and lakes. “The manure runs off into rivers and streams where it contributes to a clean water crisis (affecting) millions of people. “Waste from these industrial operations is spread on fields, often at rates that exceed the soil’s ability to absorb it.
“The Raccoon River is polluted by more than 700 factory farms that confine thousands of animals,” the nonprofit reported. That document encourages farmers to use conservation practices on their land, often with government aid, but doesn’t require actions through regulations.Īs the state gains livestock confinements, the problems are getting worse, American Rivers said. The answer is to stop the pollution before it gets to the river in the first place.”Īmerican Rivers said Iowa’s voluntary Nutrient Management Strategy is not working. “Building more and bigger treatment facilities is not the answer. In an interview, Corrigan warns that the utility can’t engineer its way out of pollution trouble long term. Water Works is looking into a $25 million to $30 million project to drill shallow wells north of town in an area that would be less prone to pollution. Utility can’t engineer its way out of the problem The Des Moines is not on American Rivers’ list. Those two rivers provide much of the Des Moines area’s water.Ĭorrigan declared the Des Moines River “essentially unusable” for tap water in August.
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The rivers also have had high levels of nitrate, largely from farm runoff, which forced the utility to install special equipment decades ago. “The Raccoon has been contaminated for decades.”ĭes Moines Water Works has had to shift water sources in recent years as both the Raccoon and the Des Moines River had spikes in toxic algae that could be related to farm runoff.
“The designation should come as no surprise to anyone,” Corrigan said.
The Raccoon faces heavy pollution both from large-scale crop and livestock operations, American Rivers reported. “It is clear, given the ammonia, phosphorus, and thousands of pounds of nitrogen that flow past our treatment plant, that adding any more nutrients to our watershed without addressing the water quality issues is going to lead to catastrophe,” Ted Corrigan said in an interview.Ĭorrigan made the comments as the national environmental nonprofit American Rivers added the Raccoon River to its annual list of the nation’s 10 most endangered list at No. Des Moines Water Works will face a “catastrophe” unless Iowa finds a way to reduce farm pollution in the Raccoon River, which last week was named as one of the nation’s most endangered, the utility’s CEO said.
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