Iowa groups sue EPA over contaminated water evaluations
The Raccoon River near Walnut Woods State Park in West Des Moines on Oct. 2, 2025. (Photo by Cami Koons/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
by Kadin Luhmann, Iowa Capital Dispatch
May 18, 2026
Three environmental groups are suing the Trump administration over the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to remove seven Iowa waterways from the state’s Impaired Waters List.
Food and Water Watch, the Iowa Environmental Council (IEC) and the Environmental Law and Policy Center are asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa to order that the EPA relist the seven bodies of water, or require the EPA to issue a final determination.
The IEC said the EPA had previously determined that parts of the Cedar, Des Moines, Racoon, Iowa and South Skunk rivers were contaminated with dangerous nitrate levels months before the waters were removed from the agency’s list in July 2025.
In October 2025, the three environmental groups penned a letter to the EPA urging the agency to reinstate the impairment status of seven Iowa rivers.
Dani Replogle, a staff attorney for Food and Water Watch, described the EPA’s decision as “irresponsible.”
“Trump’s EPA is enabling an enormous public health crisis in Iowa,” Replogle said in a news release. “While factory farms pollute hundreds of thousands of peoples’ drinking water with dangerous levels of toxic nitrates, the EPA is leaving Iowans out to dry.”
Josh Mandelbaum, a senior attorney for the Environmental Law and Policy Center, said in the release that the EPA’s decision came during a time when some Iowans were facing an unprecedented water quality “crisis.”
“At a time when Iowans were facing a water crisis that led to the first ever lawn watering ban in the Des Moines-metro, the EPA removed waters from the impaired waters list,” Mandelbaum said. “EPA’s actions were out of step with the experience of Iowans and the law. It’s time for the EPA to course correct and come up with a real plan to clean Iowa’s dirty waters.”
Michael Schmidt, an attorney for the IEC, said that the EPA’s decision has contributed to worsening health concerns in Iowa.
“Iowans in cities, towns and rural areas face worsening health problems due to nitrate concentration,” Schmidt said. “Pretending the problem does not exist is not a legal option. Instead, EPA needs to protect Iowans and follow the Clean Water Act by acknowledging that nitrate contaminates drinking water across the state.”
The EPA has until July 13 to respond to the lawsuit.
Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com.
