A new report from environmental watchdog group Food & Water Watch suggests that almost 2 million fish were killed from manure spills in Iowa between 2013 and 2023. The 179 spills occurred throughout the state, with a major hotspot for spills in the northwest corner of the state. Earlier this year, the group reported that Iowa factory farms produce more waste than any other state, at 109 billion pounds of manure annually, based on U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

The report and accompanying map, released on Dec. 9, designated over 700 segments of Iowa water as “impaired” — not meeting the standards necessary to support aquatic life, public water supplies or recreation. Details include where in the state spills occur, who owns the operation and if they are repeat offenders.

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.

“When you think about the nature of what they’re spilling and the quantities of what they’re spilling, it’s the difference between life and death, and people are being strapped down with medical debt and suffering in a prolonged way,” Food & Water Watch Iowa Organizer Michaelyn Mankel tells Sentient.

According to the report, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources fined 171 of the 179 offenders at $635,808 over the ten-year period it studied. That’s less than half of what Des Moines Water Works spent on its nitrate removal system in 2015, at $1.4 million. There are gaps in the state reporting as well. The total volume of the spills is difficult to determine because most reports do not contain information on how much manure is spilled. And in those that do note volume, the range is anywhere from 500 to 1 million gallons.

“The fines that the DNR has leveled against these companies do not represent restitution for the damage that they’re causing to Iowa,” Mankel says. “They also don’t represent a real demand that these corporations change the way that they’re doing business.”

In 2024 alone, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources documented 13 fish kill events, one of which regulators directly tied to animal waste. This one “anthropogenic” spill in northwest Iowa — caused by dairy manure land-applied runoff —killed anywhere from 100,001-500,000 fish.

Many concentrated animal feeding operations operate without the proper discharge permits, rendering their spills more difficult to track. In October, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a petition from 13 groups — including Food & Water Watch — calling for stricter regulation and enforcement of the Clean Water Act. Today, Food & Water Watch is calling for a “Clean Water for Iowa Act” to be passed in the state legislature. The act would require all medium and large-scale concentrated animal feeding operations to get National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits.

This report and map are released in the midst of a health crisis in the Midwest, which some observers and critics argue is tied to, or exacerbated by, large-scale industrialized agriculture. Mankel points to cancer incidence in the state of Iowa; it’s the only state in the country with rising cancer rates (though other factors, like obesity and alcoholism rates may play a role).

“We’re paying for it,” Mankel says. “I really want Iowans to understand that these problems are a policy choice, and that we are being burdened with paying the true cost of massive profits that these corporations are reaping from our state, and that’s a very intentional choice on behalf of lawmakers.”

Explore the map here.

DES MOINES, Iowa (Gray Media Iowa State Capitol Bureau) – Monday marked a day that Iowa has never had in its 178-year history: the state now has a female governor and lieutenant governor.

Governor Kim Reynolds, a Republican and Iowa’s first woman to hold the job, announced that state Senator Chris Cournoyer, a Republican from LeClaire, will fill the vacant lieutenant governor position.

Adam Gregg announced on September 3rd that he was resigning from the job to become the next leader of the Iowa Bankers Association.

Cournoyer resigned as state senator Monday before getting sworn in as lieutenant governor.

Cournoyer was elected to the state senate in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. She has previously served on the school board in the Pleasant Valley Community School District and started a website development and design company.

The governor will have to choose a date for a special election to replace Cournoyer in the senate.

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The Iowa Hawkeyes are in desperate need of wide receivers, and they are making a play for a big one in the NCAA transfer portal.

Now former Idaho Vandals receiver Jordan Dwyer has reported an offer from Iowa, via Josh Helmer of Hawkeyes Wire.

While Dwyer played in the Big Sky conference and did not garner much national attention as a result, he has certainly been a sought after name in the portal.

The six-foot pass-catcher is coming off of a 2024 campaign in which he hauled in 78 receptions for 1,192 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Dwyer was particularly effective late in the season, as he caught 29 passes for 489 yards and five scores over Idaho’s final three games.

He is a four-star transfer target, per 247 Sports. As a matter of fact, he is the 17th-ranked transfer target in the entire country.

For comparison’s sake, Iowa’s leading receiver in 2024 was Jacob Gill, who snared 32 balls for 382 yards and a couple of touchdowns.

Dwyer eclipsed two of those numbers in three games alone. Yes, he wasn’t playing in the Big Ten, but it certainly seems like he would be a welcomed addition to a Hawkeyes receiving corps that struggled mightily this past season.

Iowa already landed a quarterback through the transfer portal in Hank Brown, who is coming over from the Auburn Tigers.

While that’s all well and good, the Hawkeyes need to add some weapons, too, and Dwyer would certainly represent a fantastic option.

We’ll see if Iowa can land him.