Watershed Woes: The Murky Fate of the Raccoon River

By Shelby Smith, Communications Intern

THURSDAY, JUNE 8, 2017
High average nitrate levels have been a consistent
problem within Iowa’s Raccoon watershed dating back
to the 1970s. In the past three years, all-time highs
have been documented in direct concordance with the
advancements made in agricultural activity within the
state.

The Raccoon River is the source of drinking water for 500,000 Iowans. Stories about the Des
Moines Water Works lawsuit have made the situation appear to be a centralized problem,
however the effects of farm runoff span well throughout cities within the watershed.

Guthrie: A resident had a sanitarian come out to test his well because his water had recently
turned up with cryptosporidium parasites. He believes the source of the contamination to be from
a neighboring farm with many cattle.

Carroll: Almost half of the wells tested within Carroll County contained evidence of total
coliform bacteria. Of the wells tested for nitrate pollution, 18 percent were over the acceptable
maximum contaminant level for drinking water set by the Environmental Protection Agency at
10 mg/L.

Boone: At least 5,000 Boone Water Works customers were sent a drinking water advisory for
soaring levels of nitrate detected within the municipal supply. The city does not have a nitrate
removal system, as historically there was not a need for one.

City officials as well as residents attribute the cause of the rise of nitrates in the water to runoff
from area fields.

Xenia: The Xenia Rural Water District also had to alert almost 2,000 residents of excessively
high nitrate levels tested in their drinking water during the time Boone spread their advisory in
2015.

Griswold: The city of Griswold in Cass County, Iowa also does not currently have a nitrate
removal facility and is facing the same dangerous levels as many other cities along the Raccoon
Watershed.

The cost of implementing a facility addition to reverse the contamination would cost Griswold
residents $1 million. In an effort to avoid this, the city is trying to convince the area’s farmers to
plant and maintain rotation of 500 acres of cover crops for the next three years.

Iowa’s landscape is dominated by the farming industry, with nearly 90 percent of it covered by
farmland. The state is also one of the top producers of crops such as soybeans and corn. With
these practices comes an immense amount of agricultural runoff into neighboring inlets like the
Raccoon.

Farm runoff is harmful as it contains unnatural amounts of contaminants such as nitrogen and
phosphorus. When these mix into surface water, they impact both the health of area residents that
drink the water, but also of the species that inhabit the water.

Consuming water containing high amounts of nitrates can lead to serious health implications,
including that of cancer and Blue Baby Syndrome if not removed properly. Ecologically, when
this nutrient laden runoff enters waterways, the habitat of native species is taken over and oxygen
storage is depleted by algal bloom formation.

The Raccoon River Watershed Association performs frequent testing on streams within the
basin. In May of this year, nearly all of the results collected came back positive for unacceptable
levels of nitrate. The highest recorded of them all was that of Panther Creek in Adel at a
disturbing 22 mg/L. Keep in mind that the EPA’s legal limit for nitrates in drinking water is 10
mg/L.

Another group has also recorded data with alarming nitrate levels. All along the river in Iowa’s
Sac and Calhoun counties, water samples were drawn. Nine out of ten of the samples contained
levels higher than the EPA standard. This correlated with the results obtained from government
run monitoring stations at five separate locations on the river.

Recent studies have shown that with the implementation of certain cover crops, runoff can be
greatly lessened and harvest yield increased. In March, an EWG analysis found that less than 3
percent of all corn and soybean acres in Iowa were planted with cover crops.

To reduce nitrogen and phosphorus runoff into the Mississippi River watershed, twelve states
were involved with the Action Plan of 2008. It was estimated that if 60 percent of farmers
adopted cover crop practices, then soil nutrient loss could be lessened by 45 percent.

Out of the roughly 90,000 farmers in Iowa, this plan would require some 60,000 of them to
incorporate cover crops into their rotation.

In 2013, Iowa initiated the Nutrient Reduction Strategy by which the Iowa Department of
Agriculture dedicated over $3 million in an effort to stimulate more voluntary participation. In
the four years following the implementation of this strategy, no evidence of cleaner water has
appeared.

Although providing voluntary incentive to farmers to stimulate greater involvement in programs

like these is helpful, to ultimately make a significant change to the state of the watershed will
require government action and regulation statewide.

For more information on Iowa’s Raccoon Watershed visit EWG’s Tap Water Database.

KEY ISSUES: FARMING; TAP WATER