WASHINGTON DC (February 10, 2026) — Food and Water Watch and Iowa Environmental Council delivered a notice of intent to sue the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its July 2025 decision to, without scientific justification, delist seven impaired waterways from Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ 2024 303(d) Impaired Waters List.
Just months earlier, the EPA had determined these waters — which include segments of the Cedar, Des Moines, Iowa, Raccoon, and South Skunk Rivers that supply drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people — are contaminated with levels of toxic nitrates exceeding federal safety thresholds. The EPA has 60 days to make a final decision on the waterways’ status, or else face a lawsuit.
Food and Water Watch Staff Attorney Dani Replogle said: “Big Ag is polluting Iowa’s water with impunity and Trump’s EPA is once again shielding industry profits at the expense of public health. But as water contamination grows and cancer rates climb, Iowans deserve answers. These dangerous rollbacks have to stop — EPA must clean up its act or we’ll see it in court.”
Nitrate, linked to birth defects and cancers, is found in synthetic fertilizers and factory farm waste. Iowa has the second-highest cancer rate in the nation and is one of only two states with rising cancer rates.
Iowa Environmental Council General Counsel Michael Schmidt said: “Iowans face an ongoing cancer crisis. We have to acknowledge the causes and develop policies to solve them. Trying to sweep them under the rug means Iowa families — both urban and rural — will keep paying with our health and our economic wellbeing.”
Last summer, nitrate levels in the Raccoon and Des Moines rivers, Central Iowa’s urban drinking water supplies, reached near-record highs, forcing Des Moines Water Works to run its nitrate removal system for 112 days. The recent Central Iowa Water Resource Assessment (CISWRA) report commissioned by Polk County found that 80% of the rivers’ nitrates stem from industrial agriculture, including factory farms.
