A group that opposes the 5-million-gallon manure processing facility near Ridgeway worries it will result in larger dairy herds.
116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
News from our journalists and contributors about Iowa water quality, trends, conservation, watershed, stream nitrate levels and investigative journalism from The Gazette.
A group that opposes the 5-million-gallon manure processing facility near Ridgeway worries it will result in larger dairy herds.
Abundant rainfall and high heat have contributed to the 111 warnings this year about swimming at Iowa beaches.
The Gazette sat down with Matt Gent, a pig farmer from Wellman who in January was named president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, to discuss challenges and opportunities facing the industry,
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in April approved a watershed plan for Trout Run and Siewers Spring, which supply water for the hatchery. The goal of the plan is to reduce erosion from farms in the Trout Run watershed to keep the stream clear of sediment that can harm fish raised at the hatchery.
Google will invest another $1 billion in a Council Bluffs data center and $1.3 million on water quality projects in the Missouri River Basin in southwest Iowa. The tech company still is considering whether to build a data center in Cedar Rapids.
Nine beaches didn’t pass tests for e. coli or for toxins from toxic algae. But another eight were not tested because of flooding.
Just one year away from a 2025 deadline to reduce nitrate and phosphorus entering the Gulf by 20 percent, success seems unlikely.
This summer’s “dead zone,” a low-oxygen area where the river empties into the sea, could span 5,827 square miles across the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana has the power to call for change.
Worsening local effects on health and recreation in states like Minnesota and Wisconsin are spurring action on problems that also cause the Gulf of Mexico’s chronic “dead zone.”
Sluggish progress on reducing nutrient runoff into the Chesapeake Bay marks an inconvenient truth, but offers lessons for others seeking to clean their watersheds.
Agricultural drainage tile, a system used by farmers to increase crop yields, is a main contributor to excess nutrients in waterways.
With water-guzzling data centers popping up across Iowa and a multi-year drought causing more farmers to use irrigation systems, Iowa’s underground aquifers are being tapped more frequently. The Iowa Legislature allocated $250,000 this year for a study of Iowa’s aquifers to make sure they don’t run dry with increased use.
The Library of Congress has named an Iowa book of essays about agricultural pollution to a list of 56 “Great Reads” for 2024.
Nitrate contamination of Iowa’s rivers has surged in recent weeks amid heavy, widespread rainfall, according to data collected by the Iowa Water Quality Information System.
Daily Newsletters