Blog – Iowa Environmental Voice

posted by Guest Blogger on Friday, July 31, 2026 Today, Iowa considers a stream unsafe for swimming at 235 E. coli CFU per 100 milliliters. In the late 1920s, the water downstream of Des Moines measured 135,000. Before you wish for the water quality of a century ago, it's worth knowing what that water was actually like. The challenges we face today are daunting - but different from those a century ago.

posted by Guest Blogger on Friday, July 24, 2026 What if the solution to Iowa's flooding problem has been practiced for centuries - just not here? Kate Giannini, Program Manager at IIHR - Hydroscience and Engineering at the University of Iowa, traveled to Delft, Netherlands on a Fulbright Specialist grant to find out. What she brought back is already changing how Iowa communities like Columbus Junction prepare for the next flood.

posted by Guest Blogger on Thursday, July 23, 2026 Most people think Iowa's water quality problem begins and ends on the farm. The Iowa Stormwater Education Partnership (ISWEP) is here to complicate that story. When rain falls on a rooftop, parking lot, or street, it picks up oil, fertilizer, road salt, and debris before flowing untreated directly into the nearest waterway. ISWEP helps more than 75 Iowa cities, counties, and universities tackle this overlooked source of pollution through a variety of methods.

posted by Guest Blogger on Friday, July 17, 2026 Iowa's water quality crisis has been decades in the making - and the solution has been standing in the field the whole time. Iowa Farmers Union makes the case that farmers and ranchers already have the tools to fix what ails Iowa's waterways through natural infrastructure. The only thing missing is a system that rewards them for it.

posted by Guest Blogger on Thursday, July 16, 2026 When the Cedar River flooded in 2008 and nitrate levels in the city's aquifer began to climb, Cedar Rapids had a choice: build bigger treatment infrastructure, or work with the farmers upstream. They chose both - and a decade later, the data are starting to show what that bet looks like. Mary Beth Stevenson, the city's Watersheds and Source Water Program Manager, explains how natural infrastructure is changing the math on water quality in the Cedar River watershed.

posted by Guest Blogger on Thursday, July 9, 2026 Not all water worries are equal - and knowing which one applies to you, in your specific relationship to a river, matters more than a generalized fear of Iowa's waterways. Guest author, Rick Dietz, offers something rarer than a list of contaminants: a perspective from the water itself. In this piece, he draws on years of moving through Iowa's rivers to argue that getting close enough to notice what is healthy, what is changing, and what has been damaged is a form of stewardship.

posted by Guest Blogger on Wednesday, July 8, 2026 What does a psychiatrist with forty years of practice have to say about Iowa's water quality? More than you might expect. Dr. David Drake, a board-certified psychiatrist and member of the IEC Board of Directors, writes that the connection between clean water and mental health is not a metaphor - it is a clinical reality, and one that ought to shape how health care professionals and policymakers think about environmental protection in Iowa.

posted by Guest Blogger on Thursday, July 2, 2026 Private well owners in Iowa often know that keeping their water safe is their responsibility - but knowing where to start, and how to afford it, is another matter entirely. One of the most common barriers Iowa well owners face isn't concern about contamination. It's simply not knowing that free testing is available to them.

posted by Guest Blogger on Thursday, June 25, 2026 Jenn Riggs grew up wading creeks in rural Iowa and running through her grandparents' farm. Decades later, she turned that lifelong connection to the land into Wander Women Midwest - a guiding organization offering backpacking, camping, and paddling trips for women across the region. In this Q&A, Riggs talks about building inclusive outdoor spaces, the barriers women still face in recreational culture, and how Iowa's deteriorating water quality has quietly reshaped her organization.

posted by Kean Roberts on Friday, June 19, 2026 Play is a necessary component for a child's development with increased benefits coming from unstructured, natural environments. This article demonstrates those differences between natural and domesticated play environments.