
During the run up to the 2024 election, why didn’t we hear more about clean water and Iowa’s water quality problems from candidates for office? I don’t know, but my prediction is in 2026 water quality will be front and center in large part due to citizen journalists and groups such as Sierra Club of Iowa and CCI who are reporting and organizing local communities and taking action.
With the demise of newspapers, other forms of news and information sharing are cropping up everywhere. Substack is one of those. There is some great journalistic work being done on the growing platform on Iowa environmental issues, particularly water quality. Nina B. Elkadi, of Corn Belt Confidential, is one to follow.
https://cornbeltconfidential.substack.com/p/mapping-illegal-manure-spills-in
Substack bio:
Iowan writing about ag & water. Bylines in National Geographic, Civil Eats, Inside Climate News, High Country News, Barn Raiser, and more.
Elkadi is an Iowa City native and is also a member of the Iowa Writer’s Collaborative.
This is an excerpt from a recent post:
Manure spills in the state of Iowa have contributed to what environmental advocacy groups call a water quality crisis. In the capital city of Des Moines, the local water supply has one of the world’s largest nitrate removal facilities. Nitrate is the resulting chemical of manure that is not absorbed by the soil or crops. Due to high levels of nitrate in water, which can cause blue baby syndrome in children and colon cancer in adults, the Des Moines Water Works has to run its nitrate removal system more frequently as the situation worsens — at a cost of anywhere from $10,000 to $16,000 per day, which falls entirely on utility customers.
Here are some links to more of her work on BarnRaiserMedia.com, InsideClimateNews.org, and SentientMedia.org.
- Ag Pollution Is Keeping Des Moines Water Works Busy. Can It Keep Up?
- 13 Groups Sued EPA Demanding Stricter CAFO Regulation — the Court Struck Them Down
- Across Farm Country, Fertilizer Pollution Impacts Not Just Health, but Water Costs, Too
- The Iowa Trout Stream at the Center of a Feedlot Fight
- Driftless Water Defenders Go on the Offensive in Iowa
You can also find an interview with Elkadi on Robert Leonard’s Substack, https://substack.com/home/post/p-152024548





Former President Bill Clinton has been showing up lately and it just so happens he has a book out, Citizen: My Life After the White House. This is also the 20th anniversary of Clinton’s presidential library. I think it was quite savvy of Joe and Mika to travel to interview him as they try to climb back up in the ratings, or even stay on the air after the trip to 


